MarkFL said:
Given that (5, 12, 13) and (12, 35, 37) are Pythagorean triples, we also have:
$$13^2+35^2=5^2+37^2$$
This is interesting to me because you can draw the (5, 12, 13) right triangle and then construct the (12, 35, 37) right triangle upon one leg of
the (5, 12, 13) right triangle thereby getting a 'nice' visual of the problem. Can this be generalised?
Also interesting to me is 5, 13, 37 are all primes of the form 4m + 1, so each of 5, 13, 37 are expressible as sums of 2 distinct squares.
12 = 2^2*3 so neither prime factor is of the form 4m + 1, the prime factor 3 is of the form 4m + 3 but it does not occur to an even power so 12 is not expressible as the sum of 2 squares. (See further below for clarification of this point)
35 = 5*7 with the prime factor 7 of the form 4m + 3 but not to an even power so according to Fermat , Lagrange, etc. 35 is not expressible as the sum of 2 squares.
Quote from Wolfram Mathworld ...
'A positive integer can be represented as the sum of two squares iff each of its prime factors of the form 4k + 3 occurs as an even power, as first established by Euler in 1738. In Lagrange's four-square theorem, Lagrange proved that every positive integer can be written as the sum of at most four squares, although four may be reduced to three except for numbers of the form 4^n(8k + 7).'
From link below
Sum of Squares Function -- from Wolfram MathWorld
:)