Thursday, 29 September 2016

elementary number theory - Proof that the product of primitive Pythagorean hypotenuses is also a primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse



Just to be clear, I call an integer c a 'primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse' if there exist coprime integers a and b satisfying a2+b2=c2. I noticed that the set of such primitive Pythagorean hypotenuses seems to form a closed set under multiplication (and indeed this is backed up by this Mathworld page -- see equations (25)-(26)). However, I can't find a proof of it (the link above provides a book reference but I don't have access to it), or come up with one myself.



Some thoughts: Euler showed that c is a primitive Pythagorean triple iff it is odd and can be written as the sum of two squares c=m2+n2 for some coprime integers m and n. It is straightforward to show that the product of a sum of two squares is also a sum of two squares (and hence the set of all Pythagorean hypotenuses is closed under multiplication), but I'm having trouble with the primitive/coprime part. In other words I can show that if c1=m21+n21 and c2=m22+n22 then there exist m3 and n3 such that c1c2=m23+n23, but I can't show that if gcd(m1,n1)=gcd(m2,n2)=1 then it is possible to choose m3 and n3 such that gcd(m3,n3)=1. Any hints or references would be appreciated!




Edit (in response to individ's comments): Note that the formulae
m3=m1n2n1m2 , n3=m1m2+n1n2
and
m3=m1n2+n1m2 , n3=m1m2n1n2
do not always produce coprime m3 and n3. The earliest example of this I could find is
m1=8,n1=1,m2=31,n2=92
for which the first formula above gives m3=705,n3=340 (both divisible by 5), and the second formula above gives m3=767,n3=156 (both divisible by 13). However m23+n23=612,625 is still the hypotenuse of a primitive triple because
1991762+5793432=6126252
and gcd(199176,579343)=1. (Sorry for the rather ugly example, but it was the simplest I could find (maybe because I don't know how to search efficiently!).)



Answer



Let consider the ring of Gaussian integers Z[i].
For ζ=a+ibZ[i] we say that ζ is primitive if gcd.
Note that \zeta is primitive if and only if for each d\in\mathbb Z, d\mid\zeta implies d=\pm 1. Consequently, factors of primitive numbers are primitive.



An odd integer x\in\mathbb Z is a primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse if and only if there exists a primitive \xi\in\mathbb Z[i] such that x=\xi\bar\xi.



Let x=\xi\bar\xi be a primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse and, since \mathbb Z[i] is an UFD, take the prime factorization \xi=\pi_1^{e_1}\cdots \pi_r^{e_r}.
Since \xi is primitive and x odd, each factor \pi_j is primitive and with no common factor with 2, hence \Im(\pi_j^4)\neq 0.
Since \pi_j\bar\pi_j\mid x can assume that \Im(\pi_j^4)>0 for each j.




Let y=\eta\bar\eta be another primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse with \eta=o_1^{d_1}\cdots o_s^{d_S} and \Im(o_j^4)>0.



We claim that \xi\eta is primitive.
For assume on contrary that d\mid\xi\eta for some d\in\mathbb Z.
Let \pi\in\mathbb Z[i] be an irreducible factor of d. Then, wlog, \pi\mid\xi.
Then \pi is primitive and \bar\pi\mid d\mid\xi\eta, but \bar\pi\not\mid\xi, hence \bar\pi\mid \eta.
This is a contradiction, because \Im(\bar\pi^4)<0.



This proves that xy is a primitive Pythagorean hypotenuse.



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