Find the smallest positive integer such that the fractions are all irreducible.
Solution
To solve this problem, we need to find the smallest positive integer such that all 73 fractions of the form for are irreducible. A fraction is irreducible if and only if .
For the fractions to be irreducible, we need:
Simplifying the statement , we observe that:
Using the Euclidean Algorithm, we understand this stems from the fact that if for any integer .
Given the fraction range, each increments by 1 starting from 19. Therefore, we require:
Notice that this results in 73 simultaneous conditions, corresponding to each value of .
The common task here is discerning such that is coprime to each .
We observe that for each , the main requirement is that needs to avoid any prime factors present within the sequence .
The numbers encompass several prime numbers such as . Each must ensure it is not divisible by any of these prime numbers. The simplest way is to let exceed the largest of these numbers, for clear coprime status.
The largest prime in this list is 89. Thus, should be at least no less than 89, giving room for searching the smallest .
Therefore, the minimum feasible which satisfies all coprime conditions can be tested progressively upwards from 90, knowing large enough clear routes.
Finally, solving for the smallest feasible :
.
Thus, the smallest positive integer that meets the condition of being coprime across the entire defined range is: