English

A problem on concatenated integers

Number Theory 2021-03-10 v1

Abstract

Motivated by a WhattsApp message, we find out the integers x>y1x> y\ge 1 such that (x+1)/(y+1)=(x(y+1))/(y(x+1))(x+1)/(y+1)=(x\circ(y+1))/(y\circ (x+1)), where \circ means the concatenation of the strings of two natural numbers (for instance 78356=78356783\circ 56=78356). The discussion involves the equation x(x+1)=10y(y+1)x(x+1)=10y(y+1), a slight variation of Pell's equation related to the arithmetic of the Dedekind ring Z[10]\mathbb{Z}[\sqrt{10}]. We obtain the infinite sequence S={(xn,yn)}n1\mathcal{S}=\{(x_n,y_n)\}_{n\ge 1} of all the solutions of the equation x(x+1)=10y(y+1)x(x+1)=10y(y+1), which tourn out to have limit 1/101/\sqrt{10}. The solutions of the initial problem on concatenated integers form the infinite subsequence of S\mathcal{S} formed by the pairs (xn,yn)(x_n,y_n) such that xnx_n has one more digit that yny_n.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2103.05306,
  title  = {A problem on concatenated integers},
  author = {Josep M. Brunat and Joan-Carles Lario},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.05306},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T23:54:41.237Z