Let be a positive integer and . Prove that, for every positive integer , the number
is divisible by all prime numbers smaller than .
, 2011
Solution
Let be a prime. If , the claim holds.
Suppose then that is not divisible by . Then the numbers give different remainders when divided by , which are denoted, respectively, by . Indeed, if , then
which implies that . So each of the possible remainders appears exactly once. In particular, one of these remainders must be zero, meaning that the one of the factors in the product is divisible by , which finishes the problem.
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