Let denote the first primes. Suppose that is a partition of the set , where and . Prove that if , then is a prime.
Solution
Assume to the contrary, that is not a prime number. Then for some integers and with and . Let be the smallest prime that divides and let be the smallest prime that divides . WLOG we may assume that . We now consider two cases according to whether or .
* If , then either for some with or for some with , but not both ( is a partition). Suppose that where . Since , then . Also . Thus and so . This implies that for some with . Contradiction.
* If , then and so . Contradiction.
From the preceding we conclude that is prime, and we are done.
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