Proving transitivity on relation: a R b = 7 &#x2223;<!-- ∣ --> <mrow class="MJ

Jeffery Clements

Jeffery Clements

Answered question

2022-06-14

Proving transitivity on relation: a R b = 7 | a b |
Proving transitivity on relation: a R b = 7 | ( | a b | ), so a R b b R c a R c
What I tried:
7 k = | a b |
7 l = | b c |
l , k Z
Now I squared the two equations and subtracted the top one from the bottom one:
49 ( l 2 k 2 ) = ( b c ) 2 ( a b ) 2 = c 2 2 b ( a c ) a 2 | a c | 2
I see that this approach does not work, since I can't get the square root of the distance between a and c, so that 49 ( l 2 k 2 ) would be a rational number for all l and k (for instance we could have l = 3 and k = 2 ,, and we get 7 5 Q , so my equation above does not imply that transitivity does not exist.
My question is what would be the best way to prove if it does or doesn't exist?

Answer & Explanation

frethi38

frethi38

Beginner2022-06-15Added 16 answers

Step 1
Alternative approach:
You want to prove that
{   (   7   |   | a b |   )           (   7   |   | b c |   )   }           (   7   |   | a c |   ) .
Note that
- Either           | a b | = ( a b )           or           | a b | = ( 1 ) × ( a b ) .
- Either           | b c | = ( b c )           or           | b c | = ( 1 ) × ( b c ) .
- Either           | a c | = ( a c )           or           | a c | = ( 1 ) × ( a c ) .
Step 2
By assumption, there exists r , s Z such that
- 7 r = | a b | .
- 7 s = | b c | ..
Define R so that:
- R = ( r )    
- R = ( r )     Otherwise.
Define S so that:
- S = ( s )     if     | b c | = ( b c )
- R = ( r )     Otherwise.
Define S so that:
- S = ( s )     if     | b c | = ( b c )
- S = ( s )     Otherwise.
Then, {   [   7 R = ( a b )   ]           [   7 S = ( b c )   ]   }     [   7 ( R + S ) = ( a c )   :   ( R + S ) Z   ] ..
Define T so that:
- T = ( R + S )     if     | a c | = ( a c ).
- T = [ ( R + S ) ]     Otherwise.
Then,     T Z     and     7 T = | a c | ..
Therefore,   7   |   | a c | ..
Davon Irwin

Davon Irwin

Beginner2022-06-16Added 5 answers

Step 1
You want to see that aRc, that is 7 divides | a c | . By hypothesis 7 k = a b and 7 l = b c (you can do this choosing k,l from Z ).
Step 2
Then: a c = a b + b c = 7 k + 7 l = 7 ( k + l ) | a c | = 7 | k + l |

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