Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

Let aa and bb be rational numbers such that s=a+b=a2+b2s=a+b=a^2+b^2. Prove that ss can be written as a fraction where the denominator is relatively prime to 66.

Solution

1. Let a a and b b be rational numbers such that s=a+b=a2+b2 s = a + b = a^2 + b^2 . We need to prove that s s can be written as a fraction where the denominator is relatively prime to 6 6 .

2. First, consider the case where ab=0 ab = 0 . If either a a or b b is zero, then:
- If a=0 a = 0 , then s=b=b2 s = b = b^2 . This implies b=0 b = 0 or b=1 b = 1 , so s=0 s = 0 or s=1 s = 1 .
- If b=0 b = 0 , then s=a=a2 s = a = a^2 . This implies a=0 a = 0 or a=1 a = 1 , so s=0 s = 0 or s=1 s = 1 .

In both cases, s s is either 0 0 or 1 1 , which are integers and can be written as fractions with denominators 1 1 , which is relatively prime to 6 6 .

3. Now, consider the case where ab0 ab \neq 0 . Let a=uv a = \frac{u}{v} and b=wt b = \frac{w}{t} , where u,v,w,t0 u, v, w, t \neq 0 . Then:
s=uv+wt s = \frac{u}{v} + \frac{w}{t}
Multiplying both sides by vt vt , we get:
svt=ut+vw svt = ut + vw
Squaring both sides, we obtain:
s2v2t2=(ut+vw)2 s^2 v^2 t^2 = (ut + vw)^2
Let m=ut m = ut and n=vw n = vw . Then:
s2v2t2=(m+n)2 s^2 v^2 t^2 = (m + n)^2
Also, we have:
s=u2v2+w2t2 s = \frac{u^2}{v^2} + \frac{w^2}{t^2}
Multiplying both sides by v2t2 v^2 t^2 , we get:
sv2t2=u2t2+w2v2 s v^2 t^2 = u^2 t^2 + w^2 v^2
Thus:
s=u2t2+w2v2v2t2 s = \frac{u^2 t^2 + w^2 v^2}{v^2 t^2}
Let m=ut m = ut and n=vw n = vw . Then:
s=m2+n2v2t2 s = \frac{m^2 + n^2}{v^2 t^2}

4. Consider the parity of m m and n n :
- If m2+n2 m^2 + n^2 is even, then either both m m and n n are even, or both are odd.
- If both m m and n n are even, we can replace m m and n n with m2 \frac{m}{2} and n2 \frac{n}{2} , respectively.
- If both m m and n n are odd, then m2+n22(mod4) m^2 + n^2 \equiv 2 \pmod{4} and (m+n)20(mod4) (m + n)^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{4} . We can divide both parts by 2 2 and get a fraction with an odd denominator.

5. Consider divisibility by 3 3 :
- If m2+n20(mod3) m^2 + n^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{3} , then both m m and n n are divisible by 3 3 . We can replace m m and n n with m3 \frac{m}{3} and n3 \frac{n}{3} , respectively.

6. By repeatedly applying the above steps, we can always write s s as a fraction whose denominator is odd and not divisible by 3 3 . Therefore, the denominator is relatively prime to 6 6 .

\blacksquare

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.