Pell Number - Pythagorean Triples

Pythagorean Triples

If a right triangle has integer side lengths a, b, c (necessarily satisfying the Pythagorean theorem a2+b2=c2), then (a,b,c) is known as a Pythagorean triple. As Martin (1875) describes, the Pell numbers can be used to form Pythagorean triples in which a and b are one unit apart, corresponding to right triangles that are nearly isosceles. Each such triple has the form

The sequence of Pythagorean triples formed in this way is

(4,3,5), (20,21,29), (120,119,169), (696,697,985), ....

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