Friday, 28 August 2026

Exercise (8.1).12

Prove the following identity for any integers $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$:

$$ (a^2 + b^2) × (c^2 + d^2) = (ac + bd)^2 + (ad− bc)^2 $$

This is another sum of squares identity like (8.1).


We expand the LHS:

$$  (a^2 + b^2) × (c^2 + d^2) = a^2c^2 + a^2d^2 + b^2c^2 + b^2d^2 $$


We expand the RHS:

$$ (ac + bd)^2 + (ad− bc)^2 = a^2c^2 + b^2d^2 + \cancel{2abcd} + a^2d^2 + b^2c^2 - \cancel{2abcd} = a^2c^2 + a^2d^2 + b^2c^2 + b^2d^2 $$


The LHS = RHS,  and so

$$ (a^2 + b^2) × (c^2 + d^2) = (ac + bd)^2 + (ad− bc)^2 $$