Find all positive integers for which there is a right triangle with legs of integral lengths and hypotenuse of length , where the number under the root consists of exactly eights and exactly twos.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Let the lengths of legs be and . By the Pythagorean theorem,
If then one can choose and as . If then since and . On the other hand, the residues of and modulo can be , , or . However, the sum of such two numbers can have residue , , , , or modulo . Consequently, cannot hold for .
Solution 2
Let the lengths of legs be and . By the Pythagorean theorem,
If then one can choose and as . Assume in the rest that . It is known that a positive integer is expressible as the sum of two squares of integers if and only if its canonical representation contains primes congruent to modulo only with even exponents. Note that , where only the odd second factor can be divisible by primes congruent to modulo . If all such primes would occur with even exponents in the canonical representation of , this number itself would be congruent to modulo , but actually . This shows that right triangles with the required property cannot exist in the case .