High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In mathematics, Vieta jumping, also known as root flipping, is a number theory proof method. It is most often used for problems in which a relation between two positive integers is given, along with a statement to prove about its solutions. There are multiple methods of Vieta jumping, all of which involve the common theme of finding further solutions to an equation using Vieta's formulas. Vieta jumping is a relatively new method, as the first problem to use it in a solution was written in 1988 and used in the IMO that year as the most difficult problem on the test.