Diophantine Equation Solution in Plain Text =========================================== This time, I want to edit the solution's description in "vi". The equation is: 3 5 --- + --- = 4 x y What we need are all pairs of integers (x,y) that satisfy the equation. The equation can be solved by finding y in terms of x or x in terms of y. So, let us start by multiplying both sides by xy. Remember that neither x nor y can be zero: 3y + 5x = 4xy ==> ==> 5x = 4xy - 3y = (4x-3)y ==> 5x 4x - 3 + x + 3 x + 3 ==> y = -------- = ---------------- = 1 + -------- 4x - 3 4x - 3 4x - 3 And y is an integer, which means that the denominator divides the numerator. Or 4x - 3 divides x + 3, which means that 4x - 3 divides 4(x+3)=4x+12. And of course 4x - 3 divides itself, thus it divides the difference between itself and 4x+12. So, 4x - 3 divides 4x + 12 - (4x - 3) = 15 Let us use the following table to find values of x and y if 4x - 3 divides 15: +========+=====+==============+ | 4x - 3 | x | y | +========+======+=============+ | 1 | 1 | 5 | +--------+-----+--------------+ | -1 | 0.5 | Never mind | +--------+------+-------------+ | 3 | 1.5 | Never mind | +--------+------+-------------+ | -3 | 0 | Invalid | +--------+------+-------------+ | 5 | 2 | 2 | +--------+------+-------------+ | -5 | -0.5 | Never mind | +--------+------+-------------+ | 15 | 4.5 | Never mind | +--------+------+-------------+ | -15 | -3 | 1 | +========+======+=============+ From the table above, we get that the solution set for (x,y) is: {(1, 5), (2, 2),(-3, 1)} Another method to find pairs satisfying the equation is to find a bounded set from which to check integer values of x: If 4x - 3 divides x + 3, it means that either x + 3 = 0 or | 4x - 3 | <= | x + 3 | We can solve the absolute value inequality by squaring both sides. And then you will have less values from which to select.