If a and b are relatively prime and ab is a square, then a and b are squares.

Question

If $a$ and $b$ are two relatively prime positive integers such that $ab$ is a square, then $a$ and $b$ are squares.

I need to prove this statement, so I would like someone to critique my proof. Thanks

Since $ab$ is a square, the exponent of every prime in the prime factorization of $ab$ must be even. Since $a$ and $b$ are coprime, they share no prime factors. Therefore, the exponent of every prime in the factorization of $a$ (and $b$) are even, which means $a$ and $b$ are squares.

Answer 1

Its clear you understand what's going on, but it might help you communicate it more precisely if you use symbols. For example if $a$ has prime factorization $$a = p_1^{l_1} \cdot p_2^{l_2} \cdot \ldots \cdot p_n^{l_n}$$ and $b$ has prime factorization $$b = q_1^{k_1} \cdot q_2^{k_2} \cdot \ldots \cdot q_m^{k_m}$$ then $ab$ has prime factorization $$ab = p_1^{l_1} \cdot p_2^{l_2} \cdot \ldots \cdot p_n^{l_n} \cdot q_1^{k_1} \cdot q_2^{k_2} \cdot \ldots \cdot q_m^{k_m}.$$ There can be no $p_i = q_j$ because $a$ and $b$ are coprime.

Because $ab$ is square, all of the $l_i$ and $k_i$ are even, completing the proof.

Answer 2

The conclusion you drew from $a$ and $b$ being coprime is not true:

"Since a and b are coprime, they share no prime factors. Therefore, the exponent of every prime in the factorization of a (and b) are even"

For example $6$ and $5$ are relatively prime, and none of their exponents are even.

Here is a valid proof using some of your reasoning,

Consider the exponents of the primes in the factorization of both $a$ and $b$, since $a$ and $b$ share no common prime factors, their product will not change the value of their original exponents, therefore the only way for all the exponents to be divisible by 2, is if they were originally divisible by 2, which implies they are both squares.

Answer 3

Yes, it suffices to examine the parity of exponents of primes. Alternatively, and more generally, we can use gcds to explicitly show $\rm\,a,b\,$ are squares. Writing $\,\rm(m,n,\ldots)\,$ for $\rm\, \gcd(m,n,\ldots)\,$ we have

Theorem $\rm\ \ \color{#C00}{c^2 = ab}\, \Rightarrow\ a = (a,c)^2,\ b = (b,c)^2\: $ if $\rm\ \color{#0A0}{(a,b,c)} = 1\ $ and $\rm\:a,b,c\in \mathbb N$

Proof $\rm\ \ \ \ (a,c)^2 = (a^2,\color{#C00}{c^2},ac)\, =\, (a^2,\color{#C00}{ab},ac)\,=\, a\,\color{#0A0}{(a,b,c)} = a.\, $ Similarly $\rm \,(b,c)^2 = b.$

Yours is the special case $\rm\:(a,b) = 1\ (\Rightarrow\ (a,b,c) = 1)$. The above proof uses only universal gcd laws (associative, commutative, distributive), so it generalizes to any gcd domain/monoid (where, generally, prime factorizations need not exist, but gcds do exist).