# Math Help - find it

1. ## find it

If a,b,c and p are rational numbers,
and a+bp^1/3+cp^2/3=0
and p is not a perfect cube.
prove that a=b=c=0

2. Originally Posted by jashansinghal
If a,b,c and p are rational numbers,
and a+bp^1/3+cp^2/3=0
and p is not a perfect cube.
prove that a=b=c=0

First proof (requires knowledge in fields extensions): the cubic rational extension $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt[3]{p})/\mathbb{Q}$ is of degree 3 since $x^3-p$ is the minimal polynomial of $\sqrt[3]{p}$ (why?), and

a basis for it is precisely $\{1,\,\sqrt[3]{p},\,\sqrt[3]{p^2}\}\Longrightarrow$ these three elements are linearly independent over $\mathbb{Q}$ , and this is precisely what had

to be proved.

Second proof: $a+b\sqrt[3]{p}+c\sqrt[3]{p^2}=0\iff (a+b\sqrt[3]{p})^3=$ $-c^3p^2\iff a^3+3a^2b\sqrt[3]{p}+3ab^2\sqrt[3]{p^2}+b^3p=-c^3p^2$ $\Longrightarrow \sqrt[3]{p}(a+b\sqrt[3]{p})=\frac{-c^3p^2-a^3-b^3p}{3ab}=q$ .

Note that $q\,,\,-c^3p^2\in\mathbb{Q}$ (I assume $ab\neq 0$ ; if some of these two numbers is zero I leave to you to do the little changes necessary to fix the proof).

Raise to the 3rd power the expression $\sqrt[3]{p}(a+b\sqrt[3]{p})=q\Longrightarrow p(-c^3p^2)=q^3$ , and now make some order here and deduce a contradiction to p not being a

perfect (rational, of course) cube.

Tonio

3. note that (i assume ; if some of these two numbers is zero i leave to you to do the little changes necessary to fix the proof).

4. Assume $a,b,c,p ~\neq 0$

$a+ b \sqrt[3]{p} + c \sqrt[3]{p}^2 = 0$ or

$a\sqrt[3]{p} + b\sqrt[3]{p}^2 + cp = 0$

Let $x = \sqrt[3]{p} ~, ~ y= \sqrt[3]{p}^2$

We obtain a system of linear equations :

$bx+cy = -a$
$ax + by = -cp$

Since $a,b,c,p$ are rational numbers , we must have

${x,y} \in \mathbb{Q}$ . However, as you mentioned $p$ is not a perfect cube , a contradiction .

5. When p is not a perfect square, one can use Eisenstein's criterion to prove x^3-p is irreducible. But it's nontrivial (at least I think) to show x^3-p is irreducible in general case, i.e. merely if p is not a perfect cube of some element in the ground field ( $\mathbb{Q}$ here).

And a warning if anyone want to generalize it: it's not true that if q is not a perfect 4-th power, then x^4-q is irreducible. e.g. if q=-4, then one can factor x^4+4=(x^2-2x-2)(x^2+2x-2)

EDIT: OK I forgot that a cubic polynomial is irreducible iff it doesn't have a root, so in this case it's trivial to show x^3-p is irreducible.

6. ## confused first but clear now

thanks for explaining