How many solutions for integers and are there to
where and ?
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Since g c d ( a , b ) = 1 the exponents are in fact irrelevant, all that matters is the sorting of primes between a and b . If there were no other conditions, this could be done in 2 7 way since there are 7 primes and for each prime we can either put it in a or put it in b . However, for each solution ( x , y ) there is also the solution ( y , x ) , and, since x never equals y , in half of the solutions a < b . Therefore the number of solutions where a > b is 2 2 7 = 2 6 . However, this also includes the solution where b = 1 , so there are in fact 2 6 − 1 = 6 3 solutions.