Online Course Discussion Forum
MCIII Number Theory 1.12
Hello,
For this problem (1.12), I used the sum of cubes: 1728000001=(2^2*3*10^2)^3+1^3, which gave me 1201*1442401. How to factor 1442401? I tried 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29. None of them work.
Thank you,
Tina Jin
You're correct that the large numbers are very hard to factor!
In fact, the trick here is to use algebra and factoring a little more. Applying difference of cubes you should get $(1200+1)(1200^2 - 1200 + 1)$. Now, however, note we can write $$1200^2 - 1200 + 1 = 1200^2 + 2\cdot 1200 + 1 - 3\cdot 1200.$$Now we can apply difference of squares here.
Hope this helps!
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