Consider the following set of integers
Find the least number of elements that must be removed in order for the product of the remaining elements to be a perfect square .
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Here's my approach.
Let's break down each number into it's respective prime factors:
1 0 = 2 × 5 2 0 = 2 2 × 5 3 0 = 2 × 3 × 5
etc...
I don't think this is tedious since it is relatively straightforward to decompose multiples of 1 0 into prime factors.
If you then multiply these numbers you will get 2 1 6 × 3 4 × 5 1 0 × 7 . From there I must definitely remove 7 0 since there is no other power of 7 to make a perfect square.
Also by removing 7 0 we result in the sum 2 1 5 × 3 4 × 5 9 . Notice that if all the exponents are even then it is a perfect square. Therefore we can simply remove 1 0 , 4 0 or 9 0 which makes the product of the remaining numbers which is now a perfect square (eg. if we remove 1 0 then the product will become 2 1 4 × 3 4 × 5 8 )
Therefore the answer is 2 .
This is the 4 th problem I made relating to square numbers. Here are the others:
As perfect as a square! 3
As perfect as a square! 2 ⭐
As perfect as a square! 1