Number theoryDifficulty 6.6National olympiadProve it
34 Prove: There exist infinitely many triples of positive integers (a,b,c), such that a2+b2,b2+c2,c2+a2 are all perfect squares.
Solution
34. We use Pythagorean triples to construct. Take any Pythagorean triple (x,y,z) (not necessarily primitive), and let a=x4y2−z2,b=y4x2−z2,c=4xyz,
then we have a2+b2=x2(3y2−x2)2+y2(3x2−y2)2=x6+3x2y4+3x4y2+y6=(x2+y2)3=(z3)2,a2+c2=x2(4y2+z2)2,b2+c2=y2(4x2+z2)2.
Since there are infinitely many Pythagorean triples, there are infinitely many sets of positive integer triples that satisfy the conditions. For example: when x=3,y=4,z=5, we get a=117,b=44,c=240, 1172+442=1252,1172+2402=2672,442+2402=2442.
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