Rational square root implies perfect square

Hi, this was based on a thought I had: How could the square of a 'proper' rational (i.e. a rational that when in lowest terms, has a denominator other than 1) be an integer? So let \( \sqrt{n}=\frac{r}{s}\) be the square root of a positive integer \(n\). W.l.o.g. \[ \frac{r}{s} \] is in lowest terms. By squaring we get \[r^2 =ns^2\]. Then there exist integers \[u\,v \] such that \[ ru +sv=1 \] Multiplying the preceding equation by \(r\) we get
r=r2u+rsv=s(nsu+rv) r =r^2u +rsv =s(nsu +rv)
Thus ss is a divisor of rr, and in particular of 1.
So we are left with LaTeX: s=±1s =\pm 1 Hence LaTeX: r2=n r^2 =n
i.e. nn is a perfect square.
Therefore if nn is not a perfect square, then LaTeX: n\sqrt{n} is irrational.

Note by A Former Brilliant Member
3 years, 5 months ago

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