Let and be rational numbers such that . Prove that can be written as a fraction where the denominator is relatively prime to .
Solution
1. Let and be rational numbers such that . We need to prove that can be written as a fraction where the denominator is relatively prime to .
2. First, consider the case where . If either or is zero, then:
- If , then . This implies or , so or .
- If , then . This implies or , so or .
In both cases, is either or , which are integers and can be written as fractions with denominators , which is relatively prime to .
3. Now, consider the case where . Let and , where . Then:
Multiplying both sides by , we get:
Squaring both sides, we obtain:
Let and . Then:
Also, we have:
Multiplying both sides by , we get:
Thus:
Let and . Then:
4. Consider the parity of and :
- If is even, then either both and are even, or both are odd.
- If both and are even, we can replace and with and , respectively.
- If both and are odd, then and . We can divide both parts by and get a fraction with an odd denominator.
5. Consider divisibility by :
- If , then both and are divisible by . We can replace and with and , respectively.
6. By repeatedly applying the above steps, we can always write as a fraction whose denominator is odd and not divisible by . Therefore, the denominator is relatively prime to .