Show that if and are relatively prime positive integers, then
can not be integers simultaneously.
Solution
Assume the contrary. The sum of the numbers is
Since and are relatively prime, we have
Then we obtain . Note that and we can not have , and hence . Therefore, . As , we get , and thus, . So we have or . It is clear that is impossible. Hence, which yields . But in that case we obtain that one of the given numbers is not an integer, contradiction.
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