Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /2 of 63

Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Japan

Determine the maximum possible value for the least common multiple of 4 distinct single digit positive integers.

Solution

Possible prime factors for a single digit positive integer are 22, 33, 55, 77, and since 24=162^4 = 16, 33=273^3 = 27, 52=255^2 = 25, 72=497^2 = 49, are all bigger than 1010, orders of 22, 33, 55, 77 that can appear in a prime factorization of a single digit positive integer would be less than or equal to 33, 22, 11, 11 respectively. Hence the least common multiple of 44 single digit positive integers is a divisor of 23×32×5×7=25202^3 \times 3^2 \times 5 \times 7 = 2520, and in particular, it must be less than or equal to this number. On the other hand, the least common multiple of 44 numbers 55, 77, 88, 99 is 25202520, and therefore, 25202520 is the desired answer.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.