Vieta jumping

Common card · No. 280845

In number theory, Vieta jumping, also known as root flipping, is a proof technique. It is most often used for problems in which a relation between two integers is given, along with a statement to prove about its solutions. In particular, it can be used to produce new solutions of a quadratic Diophantine equation from known ones. There exist multiple variations of Vieta jumping, all of which involve the common theme of infinite descent by finding new solutions to an equation using Vieta's formulas.

Read on Wikipedia