- #1
mrdex
- 5
- 0
Ok, I've done a lot of searching and looking around but I cannot find anything that I can make sense of. The Pell equation I want to solve is this:
[tex] x^2 - Dy^2 = 1 [/tex]
Given an integral value for D that is not a square number, find the minimal values of x and y where x and y are both integers.
I've seen stuff about using continued fractions or finding values for x and y once given the minimal values of x and y but I can't make head nor tale of it all. The Mathworld page on Pell equations gives a lot of information but most of it is irrelevant. Near the bottom they show a table of the results I want to achieve but they don't mention how those values in the table were found. Any ideas?
[tex] x^2 - Dy^2 = 1 [/tex]
Given an integral value for D that is not a square number, find the minimal values of x and y where x and y are both integers.
I've seen stuff about using continued fractions or finding values for x and y once given the minimal values of x and y but I can't make head nor tale of it all. The Mathworld page on Pell equations gives a lot of information but most of it is irrelevant. Near the bottom they show a table of the results I want to achieve but they don't mention how those values in the table were found. Any ideas?