English

A polynomial variant of a problem of Diophantus and its consequences

Number Theory 2017-07-17 v2

Abstract

We prove that every Diophantine quadruple in R[X]\mathbb{R}[X] is regular. More precisely, we prove that if {a,b,c,d}\{a, b, c, d\} is a set of four non-zero polynomials from R[X]\mathbb{R}[X], not all constant, such that the product of any two of its distinct elements increased by 11 is a square of a polynomial from R[X]\mathbb{R}[X], then (a+bcd)2=4(ab+1)(cd+1).(a+b-c-d)^2=4(ab+1)(cd+1). One consequence of this result is that there does not exist a set of four non-zero polynomials from Z[X]\mathbb{Z}[X], not all constant, such that a product of any two of them increased by a positive integer nn, which is not a perfect square, is a square of a polynomial from Z[X]\mathbb{Z}[X]. Our result also implies that there does not exist a set of five non-zero polynomials from Z[X]\mathbb{Z}[X], not all constant, such that a product of any two of them increased by a positive integer nn, which is a perfect square, is a square of a polynomial from Z[X]\mathbb{Z}[X].

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1705.09194,
  title  = {A polynomial variant of a problem of Diophantus and its consequences},
  author = {Alan Filipin and Ana Jurasić},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.09194},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

28 pages