2-4-2019

Linear Diophantine Equations

A Diophantine problem is one in which the solutions are required to be integers. Abusing terminology,
I’ll refer to Diophantine equations, meaning equations which are to be solved over the integers.
For example, the equation x3 + y 3 = z 3 has many solutions over the reals. Here’s a solution:
√
3
x = 1, , y = 1, z= 2.

However, this equation has no nonzero integer solutions. This is a special case of Fermat’s Last
Theorem.
On the other hand, the following equation has infinitely many integer solutions:

9x + 100y = 1.

(−11, 1) and (89, −8) are examples of solutions.

In this section, I’ll look at equations like the last one. They’re called linear Diophantine equations.

Theorem. Let a, b, c ∈ Z. Consider the Diophantine equation

ax + by = c.

(a) If (a, b) 6 | c, there are no solutions.

(b) If (a, b) = d | c, there are infinitely many solutions of the form

b a
x = x0 + t, y = y0 − t.
d d

Here (x0 , y0 ) is a particular solution, and t ∈ Z.

b
If you’ve had a course in differential equations, you may have seen something like this. x = t and
d
a
y = − t give a general solution to the homogeneous equation
d
ax + by = 0.

(x0 , y0 ) is a particular solution to ax + by = c. Their sum gives a general solution to the given (nonho-
mogeneous) equation.
Before I give the proof, I’ll give some examples, and also discuss the three variable equation ax+by+cz =
d.

Example. Solve 6x + 9y = 21.

Since (6, 9) = 3 | 21, there are infinitely many solutions. Divide the equation by 3 to get

2x + 3y = 7.

By inspection, x = 2 and y = 1 is a particular solution. Hence, the general solution is

x = 2 + 3t, y = 1 − 2t.

For example, setting t = 5 produces the solution x = 17, y = −9.

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 In general, you may not be able to see a particular solution by inspection. In that case, you can use the
Extended Euclidean algorithm to generate one. We’ll see how to do this in examples that follow.

Example. Solve 6x + 9y = 5.

Since (6, 9) = 3 6 | 5, the equation has no solutions.

Example. Find all the solutions (x, y) to the following Diophantine equation for which x and y are both
positive.
11x + 13y = 369.
(11, 13) = 1 | 369, so there are solutions.
It is too hard to guess a particular solution, so I’ll use the Extended Euclidean algorithm:

13 - 6
11 1 5
2 5 1
1 2 0

11 · 6 + 13 · (−5) = 1
11 · 2214 + 13 · (−1845) = 369
Matching this with the given equation 11x + 13y = 369, I see that (x, y) = (2214, −1845) is a particular
solution. The general solution is

x = 2214 + 13t, y = −1845 − 11t.

I want solutions for which x and y are both positive. So

2214
2214 + 13t > 0, so t > − = −170.30769 . . . .
13
1845
−1845 − 11t > 0, so t < − = −167.72727 . . . .
11
The integers which satisfy both of these inequalities are t = −170, −169, −168. Here are the values of x
and y:
t x y
−171 −9 36
−170 4 25
−169 17 14
−168 20 3
−167 43 −8

The solutions are (x, y) = (4, 25), (17, 14), and (20, 3).

The requirement that the solutions be positive can come up in real-world problems.

Example. Phoebe buys large shirts for $18 each and small shirts for $11 each. The shirts cost a total of
$1188. What is the smallest total number of shirts she could have bought?

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 Let x be the number of large shirts and let y be the number of small shirts. Then

18x + 11y = 1188.

Since (18, 11) = 1 | 1188, there are solutions.

I’ll use the Extended Euclidean algorithm to get a particular solution:

18 - 5
11 1 3
7 1 2
4 1 1
3 1 1
1 3 0

18 · (−3) + 11 · 5 = 1
18 · (−3564) + 11 · 5940 = 1188
x = −3564 and y = 5940 is a particular solution. The general solution is

x = −3564 + 11t, y = 5940 − 18t.

Since the number of shirts can’t be negative, I have x ≥ 0 and y ≥ 0.

3564
x ≥ 0 gives − 3564 + 11t ≥ 0 so t ≥ = 324.
11
5940
y ≥ 0 gives 5940 − 18t ≥ 0 so t ≤ = 330.
18
Thus, 324 ≤ t ≤ 330.
The total number of shirts is

x + y = (−3564 + 11t) + (5940 − 18t) = 2376 − 7t.

For 324 ≤ t ≤ 330, this is smallest for t = 330, which gives

x = 66, y = 0, x + y = 66.

She bought 66 large shirts, no small shirts, and a total of 66 shirts.

Consider a 3-variable equation

ax + by + cz = d.
The equation has solutions if and only if (a, b, c) | d. If it has solutions, there will be infinitely many,
determined by two integer parameters.
You can solve a 3-variable equation by reducing it to a 2-variable equation. Group the first two terms
and factor out the greatest common divisor of their coefficients. Introduce a new variable, defining it to be
what is left after the greatest common divisor is factored out. The new equation is a 2-variable Diophantine
equation, which you can solve using the method described earlier.

Example. Find the general solution to the following Diophantine equation.

8x + 14y + 5z = 11.

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 2(4x + 7y) + 5z = 11.
Let w = 4x + 7y.
2w + 5z = 11.
w = −22 and z = 11 is a particular solution. So

w = −22 + 5s and z = 11 − 2s.

Then
4x + 7y = w = −22 + 5s.
x = −44 + 10s and y = 22 − 5s is a particular solution. The general solution is

x = −44 + 10s + 7t
y = 22 − 5s − 4t
z = 11 − 2s

A general linear Diophantine equation has the form

a1 x1 + · · · an xn = c.

There are solutions if (a1 , . . . an ) | c. If there is a solution, it will in general have n − 1 parameters —
exactly as you’d expect from linear algebra.

Here’s the proof of the theorem for the two-variable case.

Proof. (two variable case) Consider the linear Diophantine equation

ax + by = c.

Case 1. Suppose (a, b) 6 | c. If x and y are solutions to the equation, then

(a, b) | ax + by = c.

This contradiction shows that there cannot be a solution.

Case 2. Suppose (a, b) | c. Write c = k(a, b) for k ∈ Z. There are integers m and n such that

am + bn = (a, b).

Then
amk + bnk = (a, b)k = c.
Hence, x = km, y = kn, is a solution.
Suppose x = x0 , y = y0 , is a particular solution. Then
 
b  a  ab ab
a x0 + t + b y0 − t = t − t + (ax0 + by0 ) = 0 + c = c.
d d d d

b a
This proves that x = x0 + t, y = y0 − t is a solution for every t ∈ Z.
d d
Finally, I want to show that every solution has this form. Suppose then that (x, y) is a solution. Then
ax + by = c and ax0 + by0 = c imply

a(x − x0 ) + b(y − y0 ) = c − c = 0.

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 Therefore,
a b
(x − x0 ) + (y − y0 ) = 0,
(a, b) (a, b)
b a
(y − y0 ) = − (x − x0 ).
(a, b) (a, b)
 
b a b
Now divides the left side, so it divides the right side. However, , = 1. Therefore,
(a, b) (a, b) (a, b)

b  b
x − x0 , or x − x0 = t · for some t ∈ Z.
(a, b) (a, b)

Thus,
b
x = x0 + t · .
(a, b)
b
Substitute x − x0 = t · back into the last x-y equation above:
(a, b)

b a
(y − y0 ) = − (x − x0 )
(a, b) (a, b)
b a b
(y − y0 ) = − t·
(a, b) (a, b) (a, b)
a
y − y0 = t ·
(a, b)
a
y = y0 − t ·
(a, b)

Thus,
b a
x = x0 + t · and y = y0 − t · .
(a, b) (a, b)

c 2019 by Bruce Ikenaga 5