Exercise · ZW-PELL-S-EQUATION-001 · ★☆☆ Basic
Identify which of these equations is a Pell equation.
Choose one option.
Show answer
- A. \(x^2 - 3y^2 = 1\)
Exercise · ZW-PELL-S-EQUATION-001 · ★☆☆ Basic
Choose one option.
A Pell equation has the form \(x^2 - dy^2 = 1\) with \(d\) positive and not a square. The version with a plus sign does not have the correct form, and the one using \(d=4\) fails the non-square condition.
Pell's equation is the quadratic Diophantine equation in integers \(x\), \(y\) that sets equal to 1 the difference between \(x^2\) and \(d\) times \(y^2\), where \(d\) is a positive integer that is not a perfect square.