Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-iv/6/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2015 Prelims Mathematics IV 6 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
First recall why the two-variable Bézout's identity follows from the Euclidean algorithm. The initial values are integer linear combinations of . At every subsequent step, is again an integer linear combination of . Therefore the last nonzero remainder, which is their greatest common divisor, has that form.
Put . The preceding argument supplies integers with . Applying the same argument to gives integers such thatAn integer divides exactly when it divides : if it divides , it divides , while itself divides both . Hence . Substituting the expression for provesThusare integers satisfying . This also explains how to construct the coefficients using two applications of the Euclidean algorithm.
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