Monday, 20 July 2015

number theory - Prove that sqrt5n+2 is irrational




I'm trying to follow this answer to prove that 5n+2 is irrational. So far I understand that the whole proof relies on being able to prove that (5n+2)|x2(5n+2)|x (which is why 4 doesn't fit, but 7 etc. does), this is where I got stuck. Maybe I'm overcomplicating it, so if you have a simpler approach, I'd like to know about it. :)



A related problem I'm trying to wrap my head around is: Prove that 5n+73n+4 is irreducible, i.e. (5n+7)(3n+4)=1.


Answer



Well, one way to say it is irrational is to see that 5n+2 isn't an integer square for any nZ (it only finish in 2 or 7). The other way you're trying lets you the same ending (p,qZ,q0):
5n+2=pq5n+2=p2q2(1)q2(5n+2)=p2(2)



Let
p=pα11pα22pαtt q=qβ11qβ22qβss



where pi,qj are primes and αi,βj are positive integers.



From (1), p2/q2 is an integer (is equal to 5n+2), so you have that the qi are certain primes pj. Renaming the prime factors in a way such that qi=pi, you can let you the fraction (considering that t>s)



p2q2=p2α11p2α22p2αttq2β11q2β22q2βss=p2(α1β1)1p2(α2β2)2p2(αsβs)tp2αtt=5n+2




then this implies that 5n+2 is a square, but by the original statement, it can't be.


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