Let be an integer, and let be the largest prime number which is strictly less than . You may assume that . Let be a composite integer. Prove:
a. if , then does not divide ;
b. if , then divides .
Let be an integer, and let be the largest prime number which is strictly less than . You may assume that . Let be a composite integer. Prove:
a. if , then does not divide ;
b. if , then divides .
a.
Note that , so , so .
b.
Note that implies , so . So if we can find integers such that and , then both and will appear separately in the product , which means . Observe that implies , so that .
If for some integer , then take , .
Otherwise, since , we can take to be an odd prime factor of and , unless or .
Case (i): . Since is composite, this means , so that . As is a prime number and is the largest prime number which is strictly less than , it follows that . From we see that divides into .
Case (ii): . Then and since . Thus , so that both and appear among . Hence divides into .