Sunday, December 7, 2008

2008/013) 2 is the only prime sum of 2 positive cubes

We know a^3 + b^3 = (a+b)(a^2-ab+b^2)
if a= b then a^3+b^3 = 2 a^3 which not a prime unless it is 2
with out loss of generality we can assume a> b
now a+b >=2
a^2+b^2-ab = a(a-b) + b^2 > b^2 so
a^2 + b^2-ab > 1
as it has 2 factors and both are >2 a^3+b^3 cannot be prime or in other words a prime number > 2 cannot be sum of 2 positive cubes

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