Let a,b,c be integers. Prove that if gcd then \gcd(ab,c) = \gcd(a,c) \gcd(b,c)
First time asking here. I'm not sure what your policies are on general homework help but I truly am stuck.
So far I have shown \gcd(a,c) \gcd(b,c) as an integer combination of ab and c. So if I can show that \gcd(a,c) \gcd(b,c) divides ab and c I can use the proof that if an integer d is a common divisor of a and b, and d=ax+by for some x and y, that d=\gcd(a,b). However I don't really know where to start with this. Any help would be appreciated.
Answer
I'm going to write (m,n) for \text{gcd}(m,n) throughout what follows.
You want to show that (a,c)(b,c) \mid ab, c. From the definition of (m,n), it's easy to show that (a,c)(b,c) \mid ab (since (a,c) \mid a and (b,c) \mid b). So it really boils down to showing that (a,c)(b,c) \mid c.
Since (a,c), (b,c) \mid c, you can write c = r(a,c) = s(b,c) for some integers r and s. Therefore, to show that (a,c)(b,c) \mid c, it's enough to show that (b,c) \mid r = c/(a,c). This is equivalent to showing that p \nmid (a,c) for any prime number dividing (b,c). This follows from a and b being coprime. (Why?)
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