Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Exercise (1.3).13

Prove that if $\gcd (a, b) = 1$ then for any $d$ such that $d \mid a$ we have

$$\gcd (d, b) = 1$$


We're given $\gcd (a,b) = 1$. By Bezout's Identity this means there exist integers $x,y$ such that

$$ ax + by = 1 $$

We're also given $d \mid a$, which means there exists an integer $z$ such that

$$ a = zd $$

Putting these together, we have

$$ (zd)x + by = 1 $$

More explicitly,

$$ d(zx) + by = 1 $$

Here,  the $\gcd(d,b)$ must also divide 1, and that is only possible if $\gcd(d,b)=1$.