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Six numbers and a prime (Posted on 2006-08-29) Difficulty: 2 of 5
Consider six consecutive positive integers. Show that there is a prime number that divides exactly one of them.

See The Solution Submitted by JLo    
Rating: 3.0000 (1 votes)

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re(2): n = 8... and more questions | Comment 16 of 23 |
(In reply to re: n = 8... and more questions by JLo)

JLo:

I don't think you have said what you actually meant.

You have written:

"Consider n consecutive numbers. Then it is impossible that each prime number p<=n divides at least two of the n numbers!

- Can you prove or disprove the above, stronger statment?
- In case of disproval, what is a counter example with minimal n?
- For this minimal n, can you still prove the original puzzle?
"

The statement, as stated, is easily disproved:

N = 4
-------
3 4 5 6

The primes 2 and 3 are <= 4, and each divides two of the numbers.  But the original problem is clearly true for n = 4.

N = 6
-------
5 6 7 8 9 10

The primes 2 and 3 and 5 are <= 6, and each divides at least two of the numbers.  But the original problem is for n = 6.

N = 10
--------
27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

The primes 2 and 3 and 5 and 7 are <=10, and each divides at least two of the numbers.   I can disprove it with lower sequences, but I chose this one because the beginning and ending numbers are not divisible by 5 or 7.


  Posted by Steve Herman on 2006-09-06 21:57:53

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