Sorry if this question is too simple.

I once read, on a number theory textbook --- forget the title, in one of the problems list that all Pythagorean triplets when multiplied are divisible by 60.

I proved that using the generating functions (is this the correct name? I got the name from my Discrete Mathematics textbook):

a = p^2 - q^2
b = 2*p*q
c = p^2 + q^2

I proved it by proving all possible parities of p and q. It's tedious because I have to prove some cases are not possible (like a, b, and c can't be all even or odd)

My questions are:

1. Who and how someone came up with the generating functions?

2. If you don't know the generating functions or don't want to prove it like I did, is there any other way to prove it? Geometrically? using Calculus? I mean there're many ways to prove Pythagorean theorem using Geometry, Number Theory, etc.