Find, with proof, all triples of integers such that , and are the lengths of the sides of a right angled triangle whose area is .
Solution
Assume for the moment that . So
The condition on the area entails which implies that
Equations (1) and (2) imply that
or
Thus
Now, there are only two ways to factorise in positive integers. Thus, either or . Thus, there are (up to permutations) two triples that satisfy the given conditions namely, and .
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