Henry Ernest Dudeney/Puzzles and Curious Problems/123 - Two Cubes/Solution
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Puzzles and Curious Problems by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $123$
- Two Cubes
- Can you find two cube numbers in integers whose difference shall be a square number?
- Thus the cube of $3$ is $27$, and the cube of $2$ is $8$,
- but the difference, $19$, is not here a square number.
- What is the smallest possible case?
Solution
The answer given by Dudeney is:
- $8^3 - 7^3 = 512 - 343 = 169 = 13^2$
but it can be noticed that:
- $2^3 - \paren {-2}^3 = 8 - \paren {-8} = 16 = 4^2$
which, because $8$ and $-8$ are both integers, is also a valid solution.
Sources
- 1932: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Puzzles and Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Solutions: $123$. -- Two Cubes
- 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Answers: $196$. Two Cubes