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MAT315

This document outlines 4 exercises for Problem Set 1 due on January 22nd. Exercise 1 involves showing properties of greatest common divisors (GCDs). Exercise 2 defines ideals and asks to show properties about ideals. Exercise 3 involves analyzing Euclid's algorithm and approximating quotients. Exercise 4 involves factorizing solutions to Diophantine equations.

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46 views1 page

MAT315

This document outlines 4 exercises for Problem Set 1 due on January 22nd. Exercise 1 involves showing properties of greatest common divisors (GCDs). Exercise 2 defines ideals and asks to show properties about ideals. Exercise 3 involves analyzing Euclid's algorithm and approximating quotients. Exercise 4 involves factorizing solutions to Diophantine equations.

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calicoconono
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Problem Set 1

Due: Monday January 22nd at 11:59pm


Exercise 1. Let a, b, c ∈ N. In the following exercises you may not appeal to results about the existence or uniqueness of
prime factorization.
a b
(a) (1 point) Show that gcd(a,b) and gcd(a,b) are coprime.
(b) (1 point) Show that if gcd(a, c) = 1 then gcd(ab, c) = gcd(b, c).
a b

(c) (1 point) Show that if m ∈ N is such that m|a and m|b then m gcd m, m = gcd(a, b).
(d) (2 points) Show that a|b if and only if a2 |b2
Exercise 2.
Definition. We say a non-empty subset S ⊆ Z is an ideal if
(i) For all x ∈ S, n ∈ Z we have nx ∈ S.
(ii) For all x, y ∈ S we have x + y ∈ S.
Given an ideal S ⊆ Z, show that there exists d ∈ Z such that S = dZ = {dn | n ∈ Z}.
(a) (2 points) Show that the sum of ideals is an ideal.
(b) (3 points) Suppose S1 , S2 are ideals such that S1 = aZ, S2 = bZ. For d ∈ N such that S1 + S2 = dZ, express d as a
function of a and b.
Exercise 3. Suppose a, b, c, d ∈ N are such that there are coprime r, s ∈ N such that
r 1
=a+
s b + c+1 1
d

(a) (3 points) What is the quotient when r is divided by s? What is the quotient in the second line of Euclid’s algorithm?
What is the quotient in the third? After how many lines will Euclid’s algorithm end? Justify your answers with a
proof.
(b) (2 points) Show that  
r 1 1
− a+ ≤
s b b(b + 1)
r
Note that this is an exceptionally good approximation for s while not having numbers of larger size. Take a = 2, b = 5,
c = 5, d = 3 and find rs and compare with ab+1
b .

Exercise 4. In this question we consider the ways factorization can help solve Diophantine equations
(a) (1 point) List all positive integer solutions to the equations x2 = 7 + y 2 and x2 = 12 + y 2 .
(b) (4 points) Let n be a (non-square) odd positive integer. How many positive integer solutions are there to x2 = n + y 2 ?
How does the count change when n is an odd square?
The case of an even n is more delicate, can you see why?

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