Surigao State College of Technology

Surigao City

An Elementary Proof that any Natural Number can be written

2
as the Sum of Three Terms of the Sequence ⌊ n ⌋
3

A Thesis presented to

The Faculty of College of Teacher Education

SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Surigao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MATHEMATICS

ANGELICA L. GUIAS

March, 2019
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City

LIST OF NOTATIONS

N¿ Set of positive integers

⌊x⌋ Integer-part of a real number x

⟨x⟩ Fractional-part of a real number x

a,b,c Natural number

 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
Chapter 1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

This chapter presents the introduction, objectives, and

basic concepts of the study.

Introduction

The representation of natural numbers as the sum of a fixed

number of squares is one of the old and fascinating problems
in Number Theory. These numbers are just worthy of our
interest. In fact, three mathematicians have gone
exploration in proving it namely, Euler, Lagrange and
Legendre.

Euler proved that a natural number is the sum of two squares

if and only if in its decomposition as product of primes,
the powers of the primes having the form ( 4 k +3 ) ( k ∈ N ) are all
even. Lagrange proved that any natural number is the sum of
four squares of integers which can be cited in his work for
the “Demonstration of an Arithmetic Theorem” and Legendre
proved powerful result which states that any natural number
not of the form 4 h ( 8 k +7 )( h , k ∈ N ) can be written as the sum of
three squares.

In this paper, we will establish an elementary proof for the

aforementioned argument.

Basic Concepts

In this section, definition of terms and basic concepts are

provided and will be used for the development of the study.

Definition 1.1. Natural Numbers

The term “natural number” refers either to a member of
positive integers 1,2,3… or the to the set of nonnegative
integers 0,1,2,3…

Definition 1.2.Matrix
Let A=⌊ aij ⌋ n ×n be an n × n matix.
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
1. If n=1, that is A= a
[ 11 ], then we define det ( A )=a 11.
n
2. If n>1, we define det ( A )=∑ (−1)1 +k a1 k det ⁡( A 1 k )
k=1

Definition 1.3. Basket-weave method

The following method is an alternative way to evaluate the
determinant of a 3 ×3 matrix. This method is only
applicable to 3 ×3 matrices and is sometimes called the
basket-weave method.

Step 1: Construct a 3 ×5 array by writing down the entries

of the 3 ×3 matrix and then repeating the first two columns.

Step 2: Calculate the products along the six diagonal

lines.

Step 3: The determinant is equal to the sum of products

along diagonals labeled 1, 2 and 3 minus the sum of the
products along the diagonals labeled 4, 5 and 6.

a 11 a12 a3 a11 a12

a 21 a22 a23 a 21 a22
a 31 a32 a33 a 31 a32

4 5 6 1 2 3

Example: Use the basket-weave method to calculate the

1 2 3
determinant of A= 2 1 4

Solution:
3 2 5 [ ]
1 2 31 2
2 1 42 1
3 2 53 2

Det(A)=( 5+24 +12 )−( 9+ 8+20 )=( 41 )−( 37 )=4

 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City

Definition 1.4. Principle of Mathematical Induction

Let P(n)denote a statement involving a variable n . Suppose
i. P(n) is true.
ii. If P(n) is true for some positive integer k , then
P(k + 1) is also true.
Thus P(n) is true for all positive integers n.
n(n+1)
Example: Prove that 1+2+3 …+n=
2
Solution: For n=1, we have

1(1+1) 2
1= = =1. Hence P(1) is true.
2 2
Suppose P(n) is true. Then we show that P(k+1) is also
true.
k (k +1)
1+2+3 …+ k+ ( k +1 )= +(k +1)
2

k ( k +1 ) + [ 2 ( k +1 ) ] k 2 +k +2 k +2 k 2 +3 k + 2 ( k +1)(k +2) ( k +1 ) [ ( k +1 ) +1]

¿ = = = =
2 2 2 2 2

P(n) is true for all positive integers n.

Definition 1.5. Congruence Modulo

Let a , b , n ∈ Z with n> 0. Then a is congruent to b modulo n ;
a ≡ b(mod n)provided that n divides a−b.

Example: 17 ≡5 ( mod 6 ) since 6∨17−5

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

This chapter presents the preliminary results after having

been considered the information cited in Chapter 1.

The fundamental idea of our proof for the main result is to

use the identity:
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
(2 x+ 2 y + z ) +(2 x − y−2 z) +(x−2 y +2 z)2=9 ( x 2 + y 2 + z 2 )
2 2

Proof:
( 2 x+2 y + z )2+ ( 2 x− y −2 z )2 + ( x−2 y +2 z )2

¿ ( 4 x 2+8 xy + 4 xz +4 y2 + 4 yz+ z 2 )+ ( 4 x 2−4 xy−8 xz + y 2 + 4 yz +4 z 2 ) + ( x 2−4 xy +4 xz+ 4 y 2−8 yz + 4 z 2 )

¿ 9 x 2+ 9 y 2+ 9 z 2

¿ 9 ( x 2+ y 2+ z 2 )

Lemma 1.6 Let a , b , c ∈ Z . If one at least of the three integers

a , b and c is not a multiple of 3 then also one at least of
the three integers a+ b−c , a+ c−b∧b+c−a is not a multiple of 3
.

Proof: Suppose are a+ b−c , a+ c−b∧b+c−a are multiples of 3.

Then we have the system of congruence:

a+b−c ≡0( mod 3)

{a+c−b ≡0( mod 3)

b+c−a ≡0( mod 3)
⇓
a+b−c ≡ 0(mod 3)

{
a−b+c ≡ 0(mod 3)
−a+b +c ≡ 0(mod 3)

Now, taking its augmented matrix to get the determinant, we

have

1 1 −1
| |
1 −1 1 =−4 ≢ 0(mod 3)
−1 1 1

where the -4 is taken using the basket-weave method. That

is,
D= [1 (−1 ) ( 1 )+1 ( 1 ) (−1 )+ (−1 )( 1 ) ( 1 ) ]−[−1 (−1 )(−1 )+1 ( 1 ) (1 ) +1 ( 1 )( 1 ) ]
¿ [−1+ (−1 ) + (−1 ) ] −[−1+ 1+1]
¿−3−1
¿−4
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City

Since the determinant -4≠ 0, then it is invertible modulo 3.

Now, we have

a+b−c ≡0( mod 3) a ≡0( mod 3)

{a+c−b ≡0( mod 3)

a+c−a ≡0( mod 3) {
⟺ b ≡0( mod 3)
c ≡ 0(mod 3)

which concludes this proof.

Lemma 1.7 (The fundamental lemma) For any natural number k ,

there exist natural numbersa , b , c , which are not all multiples
of 3, such that:a 2+b 2+ c 2=8 k +1.

Proof: We argue by induction on k .

i. For k =0, it suffices to take ( a , b , c )=(1,0,0). That is,

a 2+b 2+ c 2=8 k +1
(1)2+(0)2 +(0)2=8(0)+1
1=1

ii. Now let k be a positive integer. Suppose that the

property of the lemma is true for all natural number
k '< k and let us show that it holds for k. We
distinguish the following two cases:

Case 1: If k ≢ 1(mod 9).

By Legendre’s theorem, there exist a , b , c ∈ N such that:

a 2+b 2+ c 2=8 k +1.

If a , b , c are all multiples of 3, we would have

a 2+b 2+ c 2 ≡ 0 ( mod 9 ) which implies 8 k +1 ≡ 0(mod 9). This gives
k ≡1( mod 9), which contradicts to the assumption of this first
case. So a , b , c cannot be all multiples of 3, as required.

Case 2: If k ≡1 ( mod 9 ). In this case, there exist k ' ∈ N such

that k =9 k ' +1. So we have,
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City

8 k +1=8 ( 9 k ' +1 ) +1

¿ 72 k ' + 8+1
¿ 72 k ' + 9
¿ 9( 8 k ' + 1).

Now,
'
8 k +1 9(8 k +1)
=
9 9

8 k +1
=8 k ' +1
9

8 k +1
−1=8 k ' +1−1
9

8 k −8
9 8k '
=
8 8

8 k−8 1
∙ =k '
9 8

8 k−8
=k '
72

8k 8
− =k '
72 72

k 1
− =k '
9 9

k−1
=k '
9

k −1
Since k ' = < k, then by induction hypothesis there exist
9
a ' , b' , c ' ∈ N , which are not multiples of 3, such that:

a '2 +b' 2 +c ' 2=8 k ' +1

 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
Next, by Lemma 2, one at least of the integers
a ' +b ' −c '
a ' +c ' −b '
b ' +c ' −a'

is not a multiple of 3. By permuting a’, b’, c’ if

necessary, we can suppose that

a ' +b ' −c ' ≡ 0(mod 3)

Now let,

a :=|2 a' +2 b' +c '|

b :=|2 a' −b ' −2 c '|
c :=|a' −2 b' +2 c '|

By (1), we have
a 2+b 2+ c 2=9( a' 2+ b' 2+ c' 2)
Hence,
a 2+b 2+ c 2=9 ( 8 k ' +1 ) =8 k +1

To conclude, it remains to show that the natural numbers

a , b , c are not all multiples of 3. We have

a ≡0( mod 3) 2 a ' +2 b' +c ≡0( mod 3)

{
b ≡0( mod 3) ⟺
c ≡ 0( mod 3) {
2 a' −b' −2 c ' ≡ 0(mod 3) ⟺ a ' +b ' −c ' ≡ 0(mod 3)
a' −2 b ' +2 c ' ≡ 0(mod 3)

But since a ' +b ' −c ' ≢ 0(mod 3), we conclude the effectively a , b , c
are not all multiples of 3.
 Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City

Chapter 3

MAIN RESULT

This chapter showcases the main result of the study.

Theorem: Every natural number can be written as the sum of

n2
three numbers of the form ⌊ ⌋ .
3 n ∈N

Proof: Let N be a fixed natural number. We shall prove that N

can be represented as the sum of three terms of the sequence
n2
⌊ ⌋ . To do this, we distinguish the following two cases:
3 n ∈N

Case 1:
Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City
Surigao State College of Technology
Surigao City