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Using Pell equation solutions to find all triangular numbers multiple of other triangular numbers

Vladimir Pletser1
1European Space Agency (ret.), Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Copyright © Vladimir Pletser. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

For all positive non-square integer multipliers, there are infinitely many triangular numbers that are multiples of other triangular numbers. With a simple change of variables, one obtains a Pell equation, whose odd solutions provide the indices of the many infinitely triangular numbers multiple of other triangular numbers. General algebraic expressions of fundamental solutions of Pell equations are found for the multiplier expressed in function of the closest integer square. Finally, recurrent relations yielding the triangular numbers and their multiples and indices are calculated for non-square multipliers.

Keywords: triangular number, multiple of triangular number, recurrent relation, pell equation, fundamental solution