Writing Assingment 2

MATH 348 - Section C1

Brian Williamson - UIN: 679489714
Problem: Prove that there is no rational solution to the equation
x5 x4 + x3 x2 + 1 = 0.
Proof: Factoring the left side of our equation, we can obtain
x5 x4 + x3 x2 + 1 = x2 (x3 x2 ) + (x3 x2 ) + 1
= (x3 x3 )(x2 + 1) + 1
= x2 (x2 + 1)(x 1) + 1.
Assume that x is rational. It can then be written in the form x = pq , where pq is
written in reduced form. Substituting this into our equation and subtracting
1 from both sides, we obtain
!

 2  2
p
p
p
1 = 1.
+1
q
q
q
Multiplying both sides of this equation by q 5 , we arrive at
p2 (p2 + q 2 )(p q) = q 5 .
We will now check this equation for odd and even values of p and q. The fact
that pq is reduced rules out the case of both being even, so we will examine the
three other cases. Let E represent an even quantity and O an odd quantity.
Case 1: p and q are both odd.
For the quantities in our expression, we have
O E E = O.
An even value multiplied by an even value will give an even value, so
O E = O.
This can never be true, as an odd value multiplied by an even value must
give an even value.

Case 2: p is odd and q is even.

We have
O O O = E.
This can never be true, as an odd multiplied by an odd must be odd.
Case 3: p is even and q is odd.
We have
E O O = O.
Again, an odd multiplied by an even must be even, so this case also does
not hold.
By observing that there is no p and q that satisfy this equation, we can
conclude that there is no rational solution.