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How many pairs of positive integers (a, b) are there such that a and b have no common factor greater than 1 and ab+14b9a is an integer?


Options:
A .   1
B .   2
C .   3
D .   4
Answer: Option D
:
D

Let u=ab. Then the problem is equivalent to finding all possible rational numbers 'u' such that
u+149u=k, for some integer k.
This equation is equivalent to 9u29uk+14=0
9u29uk+14=0 whose solutions are,
u=9k±81k250418
=k2±169k256
Hence u is rational if and only if:
9k256 is rational, which is true if and only if 9k256 is a perfect square.
Suppose that 9k256=S2 for some positive integer S.
(3k+S)(3k-S)=56
The only factors of 56 are 1,2,4,7,8,14,28 and 56.
So, (3k-S) and (3k+S) is one of the ordered pairs (1,56), (2,28), (4,14) and (7,8). The cases (1,56) and (7,8) yield no integral solutions.
The cases (2, 28) and (4, 14) yield k = 5 and k = 3 respectively.
If k=5, then u=13 or u=143.
If k=3, then u=23 or u=73.
Therefore there are four pairs (a,b) that satisfy the given conditions, namely (1,3), (2,3), (7,3) and (14,3).



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