OCR H240/02 2018 June — Question 5

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleH240/02 (Pure Mathematics and Statistics)
Year2018
SessionJune
TopicProof

5 Charlie claims to have proved the following statement.
"The sum of a square number and a prime number cannot be a square number."
  1. Give an example to show that Charlie's statement is not true. Charlie's attempt at a proof is below.
    Assume that the statement is not true.
    ⇒ There exist integers \(n\) and \(m\) and a prime \(p\) such that \(n ^ { 2 } + p = m ^ { 2 }\).
    \(\Rightarrow p = m ^ { 2 } - n ^ { 2 }\)
    \(\Rightarrow p = ( m - n ) ( m + n )\)
    \(\Rightarrow p\) is the product of two integers.
    \(\Rightarrow p\) is not prime, which is a contradiction.
    ⇒ Charlie's statement is true.
  2. Explain the error that Charlie has made.
  3. Given that 853 is a prime number, find the square number \(S\) such that \(S + 853\) is also a square number.