Problem:
Show that any integer greater than whose digits are all members of has a prime factor .
Solution
Solution:
Such a number cannot be divisible by (or its last digit would be even) or by (or its last digit would be or ). So if the result is false then the number must be of the form for non-negative integers . But we claim that a number of this form must have even s digit.
It is easy to prove the claim by induction. It is true for and (the digit is in both cases). But if we multiply such a number by or , then the new s digit has the same parity as the carry from the units digit. But multiplying by gives a carry of respectively, which is always even, and multiplying by gives a carry of , which is also always even. So the new number also has an even s digit.
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