What is the probability that any 3 positive integers, chosen at random, are relatively prime?
Notations :
denotes the Riemann zeta function .
denotes the Glaisher–Kinkelin constant .
denotes the Euler-Mascheroni constant , .
denotes Euler's number , .
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
The probability that any number is divisible by a prime (or in fact any integer) P is P 1 , for example, every 5th integer is divisible by 5. Hence the probability that n numbers are divisible by P is P n 1 , and the probability that n numbers are coprimes is 1 − P n 1 = 1 − P − n . Any finite collection of divisibility events associated to distinct primes is mutually independent so the probability that n numbers are coprime is given by a product over all primes p r i m e s ∏ 1 − P − n = [ p r i m e s ∏ 1 − P − n 1 ] − 1 And by the Euler product formula [ p r i m e s ∏ 1 − P − n 1 ] − 1 = ζ ( n ) − 1 now for n=3 the probability is equal to ζ ( 3 ) 1