Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Italy

Problem:

Determine the largest two-digit number such that:
a) it is a prime number;
b) swapping the two digits results in a prime number;
c) the product of the two digits is a prime number.

Solution

Solution:

The answer is 7171. By condition c) the product of the two digits must be a prime number. For this to happen, it is necessary that one of the two digits be 11, otherwise the number resulting from the multiplication is composite.

Assuming that 11 is the tens digit, condition a) restricts the possibilities to just 1111, 1313, 1717, 1919, the only prime numbers between 1010 and 1919 inclusive. Swapping the order of the digits, 1111, 3131, 7171 are prime while 91=13×791=13 \times 7. Consequently, the largest number satisfying the three conditions a), b), c) is 7171.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.