Wednesday, 3 April 2013

number theory - If x,y are odd integers a,b and c such that a4b4=c4, argue that...



If x,y are odd integers a,b and c such that a4b4=c4, argue that gcd(a,b,c)=1 implies that gcd(a,b)=1



What I know:



A Pythagorean Triple is a triple of positive integers a,b,c such that a2+b2=c2




A Primitive Pythagorean Triple is a Pythagorean triple a,b,c with the constraint that gcd(a,b)=1, which implies gcd(a,c)=1 and gcd(b,c)=1.



I'm not sure how to use this, since we are dealing with a4b4=c4.


Answer



Hint: Suppose to the contrary that a and b are not relatively prime. Let p a common prime divisor of a and b. Show that p must divide c.



Remark: We do not need anything about Pythagorean triples to solve this problem. And we do not need to use the fact that a and b are odd.



But if we do want to borrow facts about Pythagorean triples, we can note that a4b4=c4 if and only if (b2)2+(c2)2=(a2)2, so (b2,c2,a2) is a Pythagorean triple. Then knowledge about triples becomes useful in the further analysis of a4b4=c4.


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