In this problem you are given that a, b and c are natural numbers. You have to show that if a+b is rational then it is a natural number.

You could use the fact that if a+b is rational then so is its square which means that ab is also rational. Knowing this the next step is to use
a(a+b)=a+ab

to show that a is rational and to do likewise for b.

This is all you need because it has been proved that if a is rational then a must be a square number.

See the problem The Root Cause .

Try to apply this method and then to extend it to three variables for the last part.