Can you solve the following equation?
½ = 1/x² + 1/y² +...+ 1/z²
All variables must be different, positive integers, and there must be a finite number of terms.
Since no one else has posted yet, I will:
The only obvious thing is that 1/2² must be included otherwise the rest of the possible tems add to less than .4
I can't find a good place to go from here.
One thing I tried was to keep adding the larget possible term which keeps the sum under .5
1/2² + 1/3² + 1/4² + 1/5² + 1/6² + 1/11² + 1/54² + 1/519² + 1/59429² + 1/19026245²
This is very close, but surely closer can be accomplished with smaller denominators. Does an exact solution exist?
My guess is no, but I sure can't prove that.
-Jer
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Posted by Jer
on 2004-09-20 13:33:25 |