Solution
Solution 1
Let k=a+d=b+c so d=k−a,b=k−c. It follows that (k−c)c−a(k−a)=(a−c)(a+c−k)=(c−a)(d−c)=93. Hence (c−a,d−c)=(1,93),(3,31),(31,3),(93,1).
Solve them in terms of c to get (a,b,c,d)=(c−93,c−92,c,c+1), (c−31,c−28,c,c+3), (c−1,c+92,c,c+93), (c−3,c+28,c,c+31). The last two solutions don't follow a<b<c<d, so we only need to consider the first two solutions.
The first solution gives us c−93≥1 and c+1≤499 ⟹94≤c≤498, and the second one gives us 32≤c≤496.
So the total number of such quadruples is 405+465=870.
Solution 2
Let b=a+m and c=a+m+n. From a+d=b+c, d=b+c−a=a+2m+n.
Substituting b=a+m, c=a+m+n, and d=b+c−a=a+2m+n into bc−ad=93,
bc−ad=(a+m)(a+m+n)−a(a+2m+n)=m(m+n).=93=3(31)
Hence, (m,n)=(1,92) or (3,28).
For (m,n)=(1,92), we know that 0<a<a+1<a+93<a+94<500, so there are 405 four-tuples. For (m,n)=(3,28), 0<a<a+3<a+31<a+34<500, and there are 465 four-tuples. In total, we have 405+465=870 four-tuples.
Solution 3
Square both sides of the first equation in order to get bc and ad terms, which we can plug 93 in for.
(a+d)2=(b+c)2⟹a2+2ad+d2=b2+2bc+c2⟹2bc−2ad=a2−b2+d2−c2⟹2(bc−ad)=(a−b)(a+b)+(d−c)(d+c)
We can plug 93 in for bc−ad to get 186 on the left side, and also observe that a−b=c−d after rearranging the first equation. Plug in c−d for a−b.
186=(c−d)(a+b)+(d−c)(d+c)⟹186=−(d−c)(a+b)+(d−c)(d+c)⟹186=(d−c)(d+c−a−b)
Now observe the possible factors of 186, which are 1⋅186,2⋅93,3⋅62,6⋅31. (d−c) and (d+c−a−b) must be factors of 186, and (d+c−a−b) must be greater than (d−c).
1⋅186 work, and yields 405 possible solutions. 2⋅93 does not work, because if c−d=2, then a+b must differ by 2 as well, but an odd number 93 can only result from two numbers of different parity. c−d will be even, and a+b will be even, so c+d−(a+b) must be even. 3⋅62 works, and yields 465 possible solutions, while 6⋅31 fails for the same reasoning above.
Thus, the answer is 405+465=870
Solution 4
Add the two conditions together to get a+d+ad+93=b+c+bc. Rearranging and factorising with SFFT, (a+1)(d+1)+93=(b+1)(c+1). This implies that for every quadruple (a,b,c,d), we can replace a⟶a+1, b⟶b+1, etc. and this will still produce a valid quadruple. This means, that we can fix a=1, and then just repeatedly add 1 to get the other quadruples.
Now, our conditions are b+c=d+1 and bc=d+93. Replacing d in the first equation, we get bc−b−c=92. Factorising again with SFFT gives (b−1)(c−1)=93. Since $b, we have two possible cases to consider.
Case 1: b=2, c=94. This produces the quadruple (1,2,94,95), which indeed works.
Case 2: b=4, c=32. This produces the quadruple (1,4,32,35), which indeed works.
Now, for case 1, we can add 1 to each term exactly 404 times (until we get the quadruple (405,406,498,499)), until we violate d<500. This gives 405 quadruples for case 1.
For case 2, we can add 1 to each term exactly 464 times (until we get the quadruple (465,468,496,499)). this gives 465 quadruples for case 2.
In conclusion, having exhausted all cases, we can finish. There are hence 405+465=870 possible quadruples.
Solution 5
Let r=d−c. From the equation a+d=b+c, we have
r=d−c=b−a,
so b=a+r and c=d−r. We then have
93=(a+r)(d−r)−ad=rd−ra−r2=r(d−a−r).
Since c>b, d−r>a+r, or d−a−r>r. Since the prime factorization of 93 is 3⋅31, we must either have r=1 and d−a−r=93, or r=3 and d−a−r=31. We consider these cases separately.
If r=1, then d−a=94, b=a+1, and c=d−1. Thus d can be any integer between 95 and 499, inclusive, and our choice of d determines the four-tuple (a,b,c,d). We therefore have 499−95+1=405 possibilities in this case.
If r=3, then d−a=34, b=a+3, and c=d−3. Thus d can be any integer between 35 and 499, inclusive, and our choice of d determines the four-tuple (a,b,c,d), as before. We therefore have 499−35+1=465 possibilities in this case.
Since there are 405 possibilities in the first case and 465 possibilities in the second case, in total there are 405+465=870 four-tuples.
Solution 6
Assume d=x+m,a=x−m,c=x+n, and b=x−n. This clearly satisfies the condition that a+d=b+c since (2x=2x) . Now plug this into bc−ad=93. You get (x+n)(x−n)−(x+m)(x−m)=93⇒m2−n2=93⇒(m−n)(m+n)=93
Since m>n (as given by the condition that a),m+n>m-nandmandnareintegers,therearetwocaseswehavetoconsidersince93 = 3\cdot 31.Wefirsthavetoconsiderm-n = 1, m+n = 93,andthenconsiderm-n=3, m+n = 31$.
In the first case, we get m=47,n=46 and in the second case we get m=17,n=14. Now plug these values (in separate cases) back into a,b,c,d. Since the only restriction is that all numbers have to be greater than 0 or less than 500, we can write two inequalities. Either x+47<500,x−47>0, or x+17<500,x−17>0 (using the inequalities given by d and a, and since b and c are squeezed in between d and a, we only have to consider these two inequalities).
This gives us either 47<x<453 or 17<x<483, and using simple counting, there are 405 values for x in the first case and 465 values for x in the second case, and hence our answer is 405+465=870