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Exercise 743Number theory › Divisibility and gcdL1Added 2 Nov 2026

Coprime powers remain coprime

#coprime#powers#Bézout

Statement

Let a,ba,b be coprime positive integers. Show that ana^n and bnb^n are coprime for every n≥1n\ge1.

Hint

Use Bézout and raise to a suitable power, or use prime factorizations.

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Solution

Prime factorization approach. Since \divisibility(a,b)=1\divisibility(a,b)=1, no prime divides both aa and bb. The prime factors of ana^n are exactly those of aa, and similarly for bnb^n. Hence no prime divides both ana^n and bnb^n, so \divisibility(an,bn)=1\divisibility(a^n,b^n)=1.

Bézout approach. From au+bv=1au+bv=1, raise to the power 2n−12n-1:
1=(au+bv)2n−1=∑k=02n−1(2n−1k)(au)k(bv)2n−1−k.1=(au+bv)^{2n-1}=\sum_{k=0}^{2n-1}\binom{2n-1}{k}(au)^k(bv)^{2n-1-k}.
Every term contains either ana^n or bnb^n as a factor (since k≥nk\ge n or 2n−1−k≥n2n-1-k\ge n). So 11 is a linear combination of ana^n and bnb^n, hence they are coprime.