Primitive Pythagorean Triples

Author(s): Ernest J. Eckert

Source: The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 23, No. 5 (Nov., 1992), pp. 413-417
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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 STUDENT
RESEARCH PROJECTS

EDITOR:

Irl C. Bivens
Department of Mathematics
Davidson College
Davidson, NC 28036

A student research project is an open-ended question or set of questions that is intended to give
undergraduate students experience doing "junior" mathematical research. Readers are invited to share
especially interesting and fruitful examples of such projects in this section. Manuscripts should describe
the project in a form appropriate for presentation to the student investigator and should be no more
than five double-spaced typed pages. Each manuscript should have a cover page upon which is
provided a title for the project, a short list of the mathematical concepts involved in its investigation, and
the affiliation of the proposer.
To further assist the editor in the evaluation of a project, the proposer should provide (separate from
the manuscript) an assessment of its difficulty and any information available about actual experience
with the project, such as the directions taken by students on the topic, the results obtained, etc. While
untried projects are welcome, some justification should be given that students can make genuine
progress in their research.
Please send all proposals, with appropriate references, to Irl C. Bivens.

Primitive Pythagorean Triples

Ernest J. Eckert, University of South Carolina at Aiken, Aiken, SC 29801

Long before Pythagoras, the Babylonians knew how to manufacture Pythagorean

triples, i.e. natural numbers ia,b,c) such that

a2 + b2 = c2. (1)
Everyone knows one such triple: (3,4,5). Are there others? The Babylonian
cuneiform text "Plimpton 322" contains a list of fifteen Pythagorean triples, the
largest of which is (12709,13500,18541), see for example [1].
Did the Babylonians know the Pythagorean theorem? What came first, the
Pythagorean theorem or Pythagorean triples? The theorem may well be the most
important result in all of mathematics; maybe it is also the first significant
mathematical discovery. Where was it discovered, and how did it come about? We
shall probably never know the answers to such questions. But there are many other
questions we may be able to answer.
How did the Babylonians produce the fifteen Pythagorean triples? Almost
certainly, they knew the secret. If im, n) is a pair of natural numbers with m > n
then

ia,b,c) = im2 -n2, 2mn, m2 + n2) (2)

is a Pythagorean triple, im, n) is called the generator of (a, b, c). Clearly, we have

VOL 23, NO. 5, NOVEMBER 1992 413

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a factory to produce as many Pythagorean triples as we like. Make sure you see
why the production process works.
A great place to start a serious study of Pythagorean triples is [2]. There you will
learn that ia, b, c) in (2) is primitive, i.e. a, b, c have no common factor other than
1, if and only if g.c.d.(ra, n) = 1, m> n>l, m-\-n = l (mod 2). A similar method
of generating primitive Pythagorean triples is this:

r2-s2 r2 + s2
(a,fc,c) = Ira,?^?,?^?I (3)
where (r, s) is a pair of odd integers, g.c.d.(r, s) = 1, and r > s > 1.
The factory (2) and the factory (3) each produce the complete set of p
Pythagorean triples. You may wish to explore how to recover (ra, n) whe
given ia,b,c).

Problem L If im,n) and ir,s) generate two primitive Pythagorean triple

that the corresponding right triangles are congruent, how are im,n) a
related?

Problem 2. Make a small table of primitive Pythagorean triples generated by

(ra, 1) with ra = 2,4,6,... .

Problem 3. Make a small table of primitive Pythagorean triples generated by

(ra, n) when ra - n = 1.

Merely looking at the two tables will arouse your curiosity. Patterns, that one
may not have anticipated, will reveal themselves. You may wish to make other
tables; for example, try triples generated by ir, 1).

Problem 4. Find as many patterns as you can from the tables constructed.

We now turn to another way of generating the set of all such triples, the tree of
primitive Pythagorean triples, see Figure 1. The seed for the tree was planted by
P. Fermat, and what a beautiful tree it is! The seed is really a question: from a
given Pythagorean triple how can we construct another one?

Problem 5. If ix, y, z) is a primitive Pythagorean triple, for which integer t is

it -x, t -y, t + z) also a primitive Pythagorean triple?

The surprising answer to this question, posed by P. Fermat, gives rise to a simple
linear transformation A which, when applied to the Pythagorean "vector" ix, y, z),
yields a new Pythagorean triple, it ?x, t -y, t + z). This is great stuff, let us try
some other transformations.

Problem 6. If ix, y, z) is a primitive Pythagorean triple, for which integer t is

it-x, t+y, t + z) also a primitive Pythagorean triple? For which integer t is
it + x, t ?y, t + z) a primitive triple?

The simple answers to problem 6 give rise to two linear transformations U and
D, respectively. When applied to the primitive Pythagorean vector ix, y, z), the
transformations yield two new primitive Pythagorean triples.

414 THE COLLEGE MATHEMATICS JOURNAL

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 9, 40, 41)
( 7, 24, 25). 105, 88, 137)
91, 00, 109)
105, 208, 233)
( 5, 12, 13) ( 55, 48, 73) - 297, 301, 425)
187, 84, 205)
95, 108, 193)
( 45, 28, 53)- 207, 224, 305)
117, 44,125)
57, 17G, 185)
( 39, 80, 8!))- 377, 330, 505)
299, 180, 319)
217, 450,505)
(3,4,5)1 (21, 20, 20) (119, 120, 169)- G97, 690, 985)
459, 220, 509)
175, 288, 337)
( 77, 3G, 85). 319, 300, 481)
165, 52, 173)
51, 140, 149)
( 33, 50, 05)? 275, 252, 373)
209, 120,211)
115, 252, 277)
'(15, 8, 17) ( 05, 72, 97^ 403, 390, 505)
273, 136, 305)
85, 132, 157)
( 35, 12, 37)- 133, 15G, 205)
63, 16, 65)

Figure 1

Starting with the (3,4,5) triple, applications of U, A, D to (3,4,5) yield (5,12,13),

(21,20,29), (15,8,17). Next, applying U, A, D to each of these, we obtain nine new
triples. The tree in Figure 1 is growing. Looking at Figure 1, one cannot help but
notice certain patterns. For example, the trunk of the tree contains exactly those
triples ia, b, c) for which \a - b\ = 1. Very few papers have dealt with the tree of
primitive Pythagorean triples. One way of finding new results may well be to
admire the tree and look for patterns.

Problem 7. Show that a2 + b2-c2 is invariant under U,A,D. That is, if /

denotes the real-valued function defined on U3 by fia,b,c) = a2 -\-b2 - c2, then
f = foU = foA=foD.

Problem 8. Show that \a - b\ is invariant under A, c - b is invariant under U, and

c ? a is invariant under D.

Problem 9. Show that primitivity is invariant under U,A,D.

VOL. 23, NO. 5, NOVEMBER 1992 415

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 Figure 2

For the next problem you will need to look closely at Figure 2. It shows a tiling
of the plane by triangles whose sides are primitive Pythagorean triples. A one-page
instruction of how to construct the tiling may be found in [3].

Problem 10. From the primitive Pythagorean triple (15,8,17), construct two
tilings of the plane with Pythagorean tiles. One construction uses the sequence of
triples generated by U, the other uses the triples generated by D.

A tiling of the plane may be constructed starting from any initial triple using its
descendents generated by U, or by D. Figure 2 is constructed from the (3,4,5)
triangle. A 7 X 7 square is obtained early in the construction. Noticing that
15 - 8 = 7 one could, in the next step of the construction, switch to the (15,8,17)
triangle. This observation may well lead to new interesting designs. It is unexplored
territory.
If you would like to see a proof that the tree contains each primitive Pythagorean
triangle exactly once, a good place to look is [4]. You may wish to try to prove the
result yourself; the solution to Problem 11 may be helpful. In [4] you will find a
brief and elegant proof, and also some ideas about what to do next.

Problem 11. In the tree of primitive Pythagorean triples replace each triple
ia, b, c) by its generator (ra, n). Determine the three linear transformations u, a, d
that correspond to U, A, D.

You may wish to do Problem 11 with ir, s) instead of (ra, n). Translating the tree
of primitive Pythagorean triples into an isomorphic tree of generators may lead to
new discoveries. Patterns may be easier to discover in the isomorphic model.

Problem 12. Determine the invariants of u,a,d corresponding to the invariants

of U, A, D in Problem 8. What about the invariant a2 + b2 - c2 of U, A, DI

The final problem is just plain fun. Hugo Haagensen, the designer of the
Pythagorean tiling of the plane, is the originator of the fun.

416 THE COLLEGE MATHEMATICS JOURNAL

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Problem 13. Draw a unit circle CQ and a vertical line ^ through its center. With
center on *J* and radius 3, draw a circle Cx below C0 and tangent to it. With
center on ^ and radius 5, draw a circle C2 below Cx and tangent to it. Continue
to obtain a tower of tangential circles. From the center of Cm, draw a horizontal
line to intersect Cm. Connect the intersection point to the center of C0.
Sit back, enjoy your construction, and discover what you have constructed. Then
start asking questions.

References

1. B. L. Van der Waerden, Geometry and Algebra in Ancient Civilizations, Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
1983.
2. Waclaw Sierpinski, Pythagorean triangles, The Script a Mathematica Studies, No. 9, Yeshiva Univ.,
New York, 1962.
3. Ernest J. Eckert and Hugo Haagensen, A Pythagorean tiling of the plane, Mathematics Magazine,
62, (1989) 175.
4. A. Hall, Genealogy of Pythagorean triads, Mathematical Gazette, LIV, No. 390, (1970) 377-379.

Editor's Note: I am interested in receiving any feedback that readers have to offer concerning the
projects in this section. This could include the experiences of students with projects, additional
references to the literature, results obtained on the more open-ended questions of a project, etc.

Sums of Triangular Numbers

H

7^ = 1 + 2 + ? ? * + A: =* ? T* = \n{n + !)(? + 2) n n + 2 n + 1 n
k=\

6 ? Tk = n(n + l)(n + 2)

?Roger B. Nelsen
Lewis and Clark College

417
VOL. 23, NO. 5, NOVEMBER 1992

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