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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.

  Submitted by JLo    
Rating: 3.0000 (1 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
As Richard observed in his posting, the trick with the number 6 is that there are no six consecutive numbers which are all divisible by 2, 3 and 5. Therefore one of the numbers must be divisible by a larger prime number p. (This works unless the numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, in which case we can choose the prime number 5.) Since p<=7, p can divide only one of our 6 numbers.

The statement about the divisibility by 2, 3 and 5 can even be determined by merely trying out all possible combinations of remainders of 2, 3 and 5 on consecutive numbers, but below a sketchy "indirect" proof. So let's try to make all numbers divisible be 2, 3 and 5:

1. Only 3 numbers can be divisible by 2

2. Only 2 numbers can be divisible by 3. However one of these numbers must be even and was already counted as divisible by 2. Makes so far 4 numbers divisible by 2 or 3.

3. Now 2 numbers are missing. We can catch those if the first and last number are divisible by 5. But again, one of those two numbers was already counted as being divisible by 2. Makes only 5 numbers divisible by 2, 3 or 5.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re: Proof of the Steve Herman TheoremSteve Herman2006-09-10 11:47:24
SolutionProof of the Steve Herman TheoremJLo2006-09-10 06:28:02
Steve Herman's conjecture -- proof outlineSteve Herman2006-09-09 21:03:21
Re Bertrand's postulateSteve Herman2006-09-09 20:20:27
re: One conjecture dead, one still aliveJLo2006-09-09 04:37:53
One conjecture dead, one still aliveSteve Herman2006-09-08 01:20:41
re(3): n = 8... and more questionsJLo2006-09-07 11:18:58
re(2): n = 8... and more questionsSteve Herman2006-09-06 21:57:53
Questionre: n = 8... and more questionsJLo2006-09-05 17:54:50
n = 8Steve Herman2006-09-01 23:55:47
Some Thoughtsre: Can you solve... Not that easy!JLo2006-09-01 16:24:17
QuestionCan you solve this for other n unequal 6?JLo2006-09-01 14:10:47
re: proof2Richard2006-08-30 18:53:18
proof2Art M2006-08-30 18:42:52
an ideaStefan2006-08-30 04:08:06
re(2): One Actually Prime?Richard2006-08-30 01:58:18
re: One Actually Prime?Dej Mar2006-08-30 01:43:44
QuestionOne Actually Prime?Richard2006-08-30 00:26:28
n = 12Steve Herman2006-08-29 20:04:25
re: ProofRichard2006-08-29 19:29:21
re: Proof Simplified, and a suspicionSteve Herman2006-08-29 18:50:44
SolutionProofTristan2006-08-29 17:18:56
No Subjectheath2006-08-29 13:19:10
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