Tuesday, 24 July 2018

elementary number theory - Proof verification: Prove sqrtn is irrational.

Let n be a positive integer and not a perfect square. Prove n is irrational.





Consider proving by contradiction. If n is rational, then there exist two coprime integers p,q such that n=pq, which implies p2=nq2.
Moreover, since p,q are coprime, by Bézout's theorem, there exist two integers a,b such that ap+bq=1.
Thus

p=ap2+bpq=anq2+bpq=(anq+bp)q, which implies n=pq=anq+bpN+, which contradicts.

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