Tree of primitive
Pythagorean triples
Berggrens's tree of primitive Pythagorean triples.
In mathematics, a tree of primitive
Pythagorean triples is a data tree in which
each node branches to three subsequent
nodes with the infinite set of all nodes
giving all (and only) primitive Pythagorean
triples without duplication.
A Pythagorean triple is a set of three
positive integers a, b, and c having the
property that they can be respectively the
two legs and the hypotenuse of a right
triangle, thus satisfying the equation
; the triple is said to be
primitive if and only if a, b, and c share no
common divisor. Note that this implies
that a, b, and c are also pairwise coprime.
The set of all primitive Pythagorean triples
has the structure of a rooted tree,
specifically a ternary tree, in a natural way.
This was first discovered by B. Berggren in
1934.[1]
F. J. M. Barning showed[2] that when any of
the three matrices
is multiplied on the right by a column
vector whose components form a
Pythagorean triple, then the result is
another column vector whose components
are a different Pythagorean triple. If the
initial triple is primitive, then so is the one
that results. Thus each primitive
Pythagorean triple has three "children". All
primitive Pythagorean triples are
descended in this way from the triple (3,
4, 5), and no primitive triple appears more
than once. The result may be graphically
represented as an infinite ternary tree with
(3, 4, 5) at the root node (see classic tree
at right). This tree also appeared in papers
of A. Hall in 1970[3] and A. R. Kanga in
1990.[4]
Proofs
Presence of exclusively
primitive Pythagorean triples
It can be shown inductively that the tree
contains primitive Pythagorean triples and
nothing else by showing that starting from
a primitive Pythagorean triple, such as is
present at the initial node with (3, 4, 5),
each generated triple is both Pythagorean
and primitive.
Preservation of the Pythagorean
property
If any of the above matrices, say A, is
applied to a triple (a, b, c)T having the
Pythagorean property a2+b2=c2 to obtain a
new triple (d, e, f)T = A(a, b, c)T, this new
triple is also Pythagorean. This can be
seen by writing out each of d, e, and f as
the sum of three terms in a, b, and c,
squaring each of them, and substituting
c2=a2+b2 to obtain f2=d2+e2. This holds for
B and C as well as for A.
Preservation of primitivity
The matrices A, B, and C are all unimodular
—that is, they have only integer entries and
their determinants are ±1. Thus their
inverses are also unimodular and in
particular have only integer entries. So if
any one of them, for example A, is applied
to a primitive Pythagorean triple (a, b, c)T
to obtain another triple (d, e, f)T, we have
(d, e, f)T = A(a, b, c)T and hence (a, b, c)T =
A−1(d, e, f)T. If any prime factor were
shared by any two of (and hence all three
of) d, e, and f then by this last equation
that prime would also divide each of a, b,
and c. So if a, b, and c are in fact pairwise
coprime, then d, e, and f must be pairwise
coprime as well. This holds for B and C as
well as for A.
Presence of every primitive
Pythagorean triple exactly
once
To show that the tree contains every
primitive Pythagorean triple, but no more
than once, it suffices to show that for any
such triple there is exactly one path back
through the tree to the starting node (3, 4,
5). This can be seen by applying in turn
each of the unimodular inverse matrices
A−1, B−1, and C−1 to an arbitrary primitive
Pythagorean triple (d, e, f), noting that by
the above reasoning primitivity and the
Pythagorean property are retained, and
noting that for any triple larger than (3, 4,
5) exactly one of the inverse transition
matrices yields a new triple with all
positive entries (and a smaller
hypotenuse). By induction, this new valid
triple itself leads to exactly one smaller
valid triple, and so forth. By the finiteness
of the number of smaller and smaller
potential hypotenuses, eventually (3, 4, 5)
is reached. This proves that (d, e, f) does in
fact occur in the tree, since it can be
reached from (3, 4, 5) by reversing the
steps; and it occurs uniquely because
there was only one path from (d, e, f) to (3,
4, 5).
Properties
The transformation using matrix A, if
performed repeatedly from (a, b, c)
= (3, 4, 5), preserves the feature b + 1 = c;
matrix B preserves a – b = ±1 starting from
(3, 4, 5); and matrix C preserves the feature
a + 2 = c starting from (3, 4, 5).
A geometric interpretation for this tree
involves the excircles present at each
node. The three children of any parent
triangle “inherit” their inradii from the
parent: the parent’s excircle radii become
the inradii for the next generation.[5]:p.7 For
example, parent (3, 4, 5) has excircle radii
equal to 2, 3 and 6. These are precisely the
inradii of the three children (5, 12, 13), (15,
8, 17) and (21, 20, 29) respectively.
If either of A or C is applied repeatedly
from any Pythagorean triple used as an
initial condition, then the dynamics of any
of a, b, and c can be expressed as the
dynamics of x in
which is patterned on the matrices' shared
characteristic equation
If B is applied repeatedly, then the
dynamics of any of a, b, and c can be
expressed as the dynamics of x in
which is patterned on the characteristic
equation of B.[6]
Moreover, an infinitude of other third-order
univariate difference equations can be
found by multiplying any of the three
matrices together an arbitrary number of
times in an arbitrary sequence. For
instance, the matrix D = CB moves one out
the tree by two nodes (across, then down)
in a single step; the characteristic equation
of D provides the pattern for the third-order
dynamics of any of a, b, or c in the non-
exhaustive tree formed by D.
Alternative methods of
generating the tree
Price's tree of primitive Pythagorean triples.
Another approach to the dynamics of this
tree[7] relies on the standard formula for
generating all primitive Pythagorean
triples:
with m > n > 0 and m and n coprime and of
opposite parity. Pairs (m, n) can be iterated
by pre-multiplying them (expressed as a
column vector) by any of
each of which preserves the inequalities,
coprimeness, and opposite parity. The
resulting ternary tree contains every such
(m, n) pair exactly once, and when
converted into (a, b, c) triples it becomes
identical to the tree described above.
Another way of using two underlying
parameters to generate the tree of triples[8]
uses an alternative formula for all primitive
triples:
with u > v > 0 and u and v coprime and
both odd. Pairs (u, v) can be iterated by
pre-multiplying them (expressed as a
column vector) by any of the above 2 × 2
matrices, all three of which preserve the
inequalities, coprimeness, and the odd
parity of both elements. When this process
is begun at (3, 1), the resulting ternary tree
contains every such (u, v) pair exactly
once, and when converted into (a, b, c)
triples it becomes identical to the tree
described above.
A different tree
Alternatively, one may also use 3 different
matrices found by Price.[5] These matrices
A', B', C' and their corresponding linear
transformations are shown below.
Price's three linear transformations are
The 3 children produced by each of the
two sets of matrices are not the same, but
each set separately produces all primitive
triples.
For example, using [5, 12, 13] as the
parent, we get two sets of three children:
Notes and references
1. B. Berggren, "Pytagoreiska trianglar"
(in Swedish), Elementa: Tidskrift för
elementär matematik, fysik och kemi
17 (1934), 129–139. See page 6 for
the rooted tree.
2. Barning, F. J. M. (1963), "Over
pythagorese en bijna-pythagorese
driehoeken en een generatieproces
met behulp van unimodulaire
matrices" (in Dutch), Math. Centrum
Amsterdam Afd. Zuivere Wisk. ZW-
011: 37, https://ir.cwi.nl/pub/7151
3. A. Hall, "Genealogy of Pythagorean
Triads", The Mathematical Gazette,
volume 54, number 390, December,
1970, pages 377–9.
4. Kanga, A. R., "The family tree of
Pythagorean triples," Bulletin of the
Institute of Mathematics and its
Applications 26, January/February
1990, 15–17.
5. Price, H. Lee (2008). "The Pythagorean
Tree: A New Species".
arXiv:0809.4324 .
6. Mitchell, Douglas W., "Feedback on
92.60", Mathematical Gazette 93, July
2009, 358–9.
7. Saunders, Robert A.; Randall, Trevor
(July 1994), "The family tree of the
Pythagorean triplets revisited",
Mathematical Gazette, 78: 190–193,
JSTOR 3618576 .
8. Mitchell, Douglas W., "An alternative
characterisation of all primitive
Pythagorean triples", Mathematical
Gazette 85, July 2001, 273–275.
External links
The Trinary Tree(s) underlying Primitive
Pythagorean Triples at cut-the-knot
Frank R. Bernhart, and H. Lee Price,
"Pythagoras' garden, revisited",
Australian Senior Mathematics Journal
01/2012; 26(1):29-40.[1]
Peter Russell, "Tree of Primitive
Pythagorean Triples graph scale infinite
series", [2] at Stack Exchange
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