Let be an odd natural number, and let be non-zero natural numbers. We denote as the product of the integers , and as their greatest common divisor.
Show that
Solution
For all , we set , so that , and we also set and . Then , and it remains to prove that .
We then consider a potential prime factor of . If divides one of the integers , then it also divides , so it divides each integer , which is absurd. Therefore, does not divide any of the integers , and does not divide either. This shows that is coprime with . Since , then . Therefore, divides . We conclude that divides 2, which completes the proof.
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