diophantine equations in three variables

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    Diophantine Equations in Three Variables

    Date: 11/17/2004 at 08:19:26

    From: Kazim

    Subject: Diophantine Equations

    I need to know how to get positive integer solutions of twoDiophantine equations having three variables. For example:

    2x + 3y + 7z = 32 ; 3x + 4y - z = 19

    (give the positive set of triples for the above equations)

    Date: 11/17/2004 at 19:34:32

    From: Doctor Vogler

    Subject: Re: Diophantine Equations

    Hi Kazim,

    First of all, there are two ways to interpret your two equations, and

    I'm not sure which one you want. Either you want positive integer

    triples (x, y, z) that satisfy *both* equations

    2x + 3y + 7z = 32

    3x + 4y - z = 19,

    or you want all positive integer triples that satisfy the equation

    2x + 3y + 7z = 32

    as well as all positive integer triples that satisfy the equation

    3x + 4y - z = 19.

    If the first case is what you want, then you just solve for the

    variable z in the second equation, substitute into the first equation,

    and that gives you a normal linear Diophantine equation in two

    variables. (If there weren't a variable with a coefficient of 1, then

    you could make one of the coefficients 1--leaving the rest integers--

    by adding and subtracting multiples of one equation from the other,

    back and forth.)

    Here's an answer for our archives that discusses this case:

    Systems with More Variables than Equations

    http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61825.html

    If the second case is what you want, then you are asking how to solve

    a linear Diophantine equation in three variables. The following

    answer discusses this case:

    Diophantine Equations, Step by Step

    http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61325.html

    However, I would like to take this opportunity to describe a different

    technique for solving three-variable linear Diophantine equations that

    gives an answer more like the formula for all integer solutions totwo-variable linear Diophantine equations.

    http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61825.htmlhttp://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61325.htmlhttp://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61325.htmlhttp://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/61825.html
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    So I will use this technique to find all integer solutions to an

    equation, and then mention how you use this to find all *positive*

    integer solutions.

    First let's solve the equation

    6x + 10y + 15z = 0.

    We know that z has to be even, right? And we know that y has to a

    multiple of 3, right? So suppose that

    z = 2a

    and

    y = 3b.

    Then we solve for x:

    6x + 10(3b) + 15(2a) = 0

    6x = -30b - 30a

    x = -5(a+b).

    Then that means that all solutions are

    x = -5(a+b)

    y = 3b

    z = 2a

    for any integers a and b.

    You can describe all of the solutions in different ways, as well.

    Basically, x has to be divisible by 5, y by 3, and x by 2. Then you

    can pick any two of those variables to be anything (satisfying the

    divisibility condition) and the third variable is determined from the

    equation.

    Let's try another. Let's solve your equation

    2x + 3y + 7z = 32.

    As in solving a two-variable linear Diophantine equation, the first

    thing to do is find any *one* integer solution. In three variables,

    the easiest way to do this is often to pick any number for one of thevariables and then use your usual techniques (such as modular inverses

    or the Euclidean algorithm) to find solutions in the others. Here's

    an easy solution for this equation: Take x=16 to cancel the 32 on the

    right, so you have

    3y + 7z = 0,

    and then take y = 7 and z = -3. So now we have one solution,

    (16, 7, -3)

    and we want to find all solutions. Well, let's suppose that

    (x, y, z)

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    is another solution. Then what happens if we subtract our known

    solution from it?

    2(x - 16) + 3(y - 7) + 7(z + 3) = (2x + 3y + 7z) - 32 = 0.

    So that means that if

    a = x - 16

    b = y - 7

    c = z + 3,

    then (a, b, c) satisfy the equation

    2a + 3b + 7c = 0.

    Now you see why I started with an equation that equaled zero. In the

    previous case, there were common factors between any two of the

    coefficients, and that allowed us to divide by those common factors.

    If there are not, as here, then you don't divide by anything. (I.e.

    you divide by the common factor 1.)

    But we still can't solve for a until we know that

    3b + 7c

    is even. So we have to make it even. We do this by noticing that if

    3b + 7c

    is even, then so is b - c. So we let

    b = c + 2r,

    and now we know that

    2a = -(3b + 7c) = -(3c + 6r + 7c) = -(10c + 6r)

    is even, so we can solve for a:

    a = -(5c + 3r).

    And c can be anything. So we have

    a = -5s - 3r

    b = s + 2r

    c = s

    for some integers r and s. That is, every solution to

    2a + 3b + 7c = 0

    has that form for some r and s. Furthermore, for any integers r and

    s, those three numbers are solutions. If we recall that

    a = x - 16

    b = y - 7

    c = z + 3,

    then we can also say about all solutions to

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    2x + 3y + 7z = 32

    that they are given by

    x = 16 - 5s - 3r

    y = 7 + s + 2r

    z = -3 + s.

    Finally, if we want to find only positive solutions, then we just have

    to find all (s, r) pairs that satisfy the three inequalities

    x = 16 - 5s - 3r > 0

    y = 7 + s + 2r > 0

    z = -3 + s > 0.

    The easiest way to solve these inequalities might be to graph them (as

    lines) on a plane and count all of the lattice points (integer

    points).

    Now, let me summarize (and generalize). Suppose we want to solve an

    equation of the form

    Ax + By + Cz = N

    for some (known) integers A, B, C, and N. We may assume that A, B,

    and C have no common factor (of all three), since if such a common

    factor divides N, then we can divide the whole equation by that

    number. If that common factor does not divide N, then there are no

    solutions. First we find a single particular solution by choosing any

    number x. If gcd(B, C) > 1, then our x must satisfy

    Ax = N (mod gcd(B, C)).

    Then we find some solution for y and z, such as by using the Euclidean

    Algorithm. So now we have a particular solution (x0, y0, z0). To

    find all solutions, we let

    x' = x - x0

    y' = y - y0

    z' = z - z0

    and find that (x', y', z') must satisfy

    Ax' + By' + Cz' = 0.

    Next, x' must be divisible by gcd(B, C), and y' must be divisible by

    gcd(A, C), and z' must be divisible by gcd(A, B), so we let

    x" = x'/gcd(B, C)

    y" = x'/gcd(A, C)

    z" = z'/gcd(A, B),

    and we let

    A' = A/(gcd(A, C)*gcd(A, B))

    B' = B/(gcd(A, B)*gcd(B, C))

    C' = C/(gcd(A, C)*gcd(B, C))

    so that now we have

    A'x" + B'y" + C'z" = 0

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    where A', B', and C' are pairwise relatively prime (that is, no two

    have a common factor).

    Now we would like to solve for x", so we decide what b must be mod A'.

    B'y" + C'z" = 0 (mod A').

    So we find an integer k that satisfies

    B'k + C' = 0 (mod A'),

    which is -C'/B' (mod A') and can be computed using the Euclidean

    algorithm, and then y" - kz" must be divisible by A', so we let

    y" = kz" + A'r

    and then we solve for x"

    A'x" = -B'y" - C'z"

    = -B'(kz" + A'r) - C'z"

    = -(B'k + C')z" - A'B'r

    and so

    x" = -B'r - z"(B'k + C')/A'

    where that last number m = (B'k + C')/A' is an integer. Finally, we

    choose any number for z" and we get

    x" = -B'r - ms

    y" = ks + A'r

    z" = s

    x' = gcd(B, C) * (-B'r - ms)

    y' = gcd(A, C) * (ks + A'r)

    z' = gcd(A, B) * s

    x = x0 + gcd(B, C) * (-B'r - ms)

    y = y0 + gcd(A, C) * (ks + A'r)

    z = z0 + gcd(A, B) * s

    and this last formula gives us all integer solutions to the equation

    Ax + By + Cz = N

    in the form of linear combinations of the two arbitrary integers r ands. Of course, this isn't the *only* way to express all integer

    solutions. For example, we can change r to -t or t-s or t-7s, and get

    new ways to write out all integer solutions. Or we can change s to

    t-6r, for example. (We can't change them to just anything, but we can

    change them to many different things.)

    I hope you find this useful and informative. If you have any

    questions about this or need more help, please write back, and I will

    try to explain further.

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    Systems with More Variables than Equations

    Date: 12/11/2002 at 11:51:14

    From: Sridar

    Subject: Solving systems

    Dr. Math. How do you solve this system?:

    187y + 98x + 45z = 48

    2y + 9x + 3z = 198

    I tried solving it by trying to multiply equation 2 by 15 to eliminate

    Z, but do you multiply again by another number to eliminate another

    variable? I am totally stuck here.

    P.S. I am in 4th grade but I am learning high school math! Isn't

    that cool?

    Date: 12/11/2002 at 13:11:27

    From: Doctor Greenie

    Subject: Re: Solving systems

    Hello, Sridar -

    With three variables and only two equations, you can't do anything

    more than eliminate one variable. You will end up with a single

    equation with two variables; the graph of such an equation is a

    straight line, indicating that there are infinitely many solutions.

    Usually, with problems like this, it is either stated or implied that

    the solutions should be integers; in that case, you can perform an

    analysis to determine the family of distinct solutions.

    In your particular example, eliminating z gives you the equation

    37x - 157y = 2922

    The standard approach to finding the integer solutions of an equation

    like this looks something like this:

    37x - 157y = 2922

    37x = 157y + 2922

    x = (157/37)y + (2922/37)

    x = 4y + (9/37)y + 78 + 36/37

    x = (4y + 78) + (9y + 36)/37

    Now since x must be an integer, and since 4y + 78 is an integer,

    (9y + 36)/37 must also be an integer.

    9y + 36

    ------- = n for some integer n

    37

    9(y + 4)

    -------- = n

    37

    Since 9 and 37 are relatively prime, y + 4 must be a multiple of 37

    for this expression to have an integer value. The smallest positive

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    value for which this is the case is y=33. So we have as our first

    solution in which both x and y are integers:

    y = 33

    x = (4y + 78) + (9y + 36)/37 = (132 + 78) + (333/37) = 210 + 9 = 219

    2y + 9x + 3z = 198

    66 + 1971 + 3z = 198

    3z = -1839

    z = -613

    These integer values of x and y yield an integer value for z, so we

    have our first solution to the original pair of equations in integers.

    For the family of solutions, we have

    9(y + 4)

    -------- = n

    37

    where n is an integer. The general solution, for this expression to

    be an integer, is

    y = 33 + 37k

    where k is any integer. To find the general solution, we then have

    y = 33 + 37k

    x = (4y + 78) + (9y + 36)/37

    x = (132 + 148k + 78) + (297 + 333k + 36)/37

    x = (148k + 210) + (9k + 9)

    x = 157k + 219

    2y + 9x + 3z = 198

    (66 + 74k) + (1413k + 1971) + 3z = 198

    3z = -1487k - 1839

    z = -(1487/3)k - 613

    The coefficient 1487 is not divisible by 3; this tells us that only

    values of k which are multiples of 3 will yield integer values for z.

    So now we can form the expressions for the family of integer solutions

    to your problem.

    y = 33 + 37(3k) where k is any integer (not the same k as above)y = 111k + 33

    x = (4y + 78) + (9y + 36)/37

    x = (444k + 132 + 78) + (999k + 297 + 36)/37

    x = (444k + 210) + (27k + 9)

    x = 471k + 219

    2y + 9x + 3z = 198

    (222k + 66) + (4239k + 1971) + 3z = 198

    4461k + 2037 + 3z = 198

    3z = -4461k -1839

    z = -1487k - 613

    The family of integer solutions to your pair of equations is

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    (x, y, z) = (471k + 219, 111k + 33, -1487k - 613)

    where k is any integer.

    Equations like these, where there are more variables than equations,

    and where solutions are to be integers, are called Diophantineequations. You can find many pages in the Dr. Math archives where

    similar problems are discussed by performing a search of the archives

    using the keyword

    diophantine

    I hope all this helps. If you have any questions about any of this,

    try looking at some more examples in the archives. Then write back

    if you still have questions.