A Survey of Alternative Solutions to the Congruum Problem

Nathanael Johnson

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arXiv · 2505.03752

A Survey of Alternative Solutions to the Congruum Problem

Nathanael Johnson

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Abstract

A congruum was first defined by Leonardo Pisano in 1225 and it is defined as the common difference in an arithmetic progression of three perfect squares. Later that year in his book Liber Quadratorum, Pisano proved that congruums can never perfect squares themselves, a finding that was later revisited by Pierre de Fermat in 1670. His proof is now known as Fermat's Right Triangle Theorem. In this paper, four alternative proofs to Pisano's original proof are demonstrated and offered with each proof requiring a different scope of mathematical knowledge. The proofs are by direct Diophantine analysis, parameterization of differences, Heronian triangle construction, and infinite descent. In showing these proofs, it is demonstrated that there are alternatives to the method of decomposing perfect squares as sums of odd numbers as Pisano did in his proof in 1225.

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Nathanael Johnson. 2025-04-18. A Survey of Alternative Solutions to the Congruum Problem. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.03752

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