Higher mathematics with the beam scale (Q2566617)

Starting from a problem with weights on a beam balance leading to the Diophantine equation \[ 2x_1+ 3x_2+ 5x_3= 8 \] with \(|x_i|\leq 5\) \((i= 1,2,3)\) is considered more general the solution of Diophantine equations \[ a_1 x_1+ a_2 x_2+\cdots+ a_n x_n= b\qquad (a_i,\, b\in\mathbb{N}) \] under the condition \(|x_i|\leq m\) \((i= 1,2,\dots, n)\). The number of solutions is given by a polynomial in \(a_1,a_2,\dots, a_n\), \(b\) and \(m+ 1\) with rational coefficients. For the proofs are used methods from analysis and linear algebra.