Let , , be nonzero integers, with as their only positive common divisor, such that . Find the number of such triples with .
Solution
Since the sum is , there are positive and negative integers among the three. Without loss of generality, we assume that there is negative and two positive integers. (The other case is obtained by changing the signs of all the integers.) Then since it has the smallest absolute value. Let , and . Then . Therefore , and for some integers , , with . Substitute into the original equation and simplify, we have
Now, has no common factor with and . Thus . This means is a common divisor of , , . By our assumption, . By symmetry, we also have . Therefore and , , . Thus every triple , , , pairwise coprime with uniquely determines the triple , , . We have the following triples, with the product of the larger :
Therefore, we have such triples.