Co-Prime Listing

What is the least number of positive two-digit integers that I need to write down to guarantee that I could find a pair of coprime numbers ?

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The answer is 46.

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1 solution

Donglin Loo
Jun 11, 2018

The prime numbers are 2 , 3 , 5 , . . . 2,3,5,...

The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 2 2 are 10 , 12 , 14 , . . . , 96 , 98 10,12,14,...,96,98

The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 3 3 are 12 , 15 , 18 , . . . , 96 , 99 12,15,18,...,96,99

The positive two-digit integers which are divisible by 5 5 are 10 , 15 , 20 , . . . , 90 , 95 10,15,20,...,90,95

............

Notice that the numbers in each list of multiples are in the form of arithmetic progression(A.M.)

The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 2 = 98 10 2 + 1 = 45 \cfrac{98-10}{2}+1=45

The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 3 3 = 99 12 3 + 1 = 30 \cfrac{99-12}{3}+1=30

The number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 5 5 = 95 10 5 + 1 = 18 \cfrac{95-10}{5}+1=18

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Since the number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 2 is the most among all the primes, by Pigeonhole's Principle , the least \textbf{least} number of positive two-digit integers that I need to write down to guarantee that I could find a pair of co-prime \textbf{co-prime} numbers = 45 + 1 = 46 =45+1=\boxed{46}

Note: \textbf{Note:}

You may be asking why isn't the answer 2 2 . The answer is not 2 2 because in order to guarantee that I could find a pair of co-prime \textbf{co-prime} numbers, I ought to consider the worst-case scenario \textbf{worst-case scenario} ! Here, the worst-case scenario \textbf{worst-case scenario} is I first choose all 45 45 positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 2 and go on to pick the next number which is not a multiple of 2 2 , which guarantees me a pair of co-prime numbers(the number of positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 2 is the most excluding 1 1 which is not a prime).

And take note that 1 1 cannot be chosen before the 45 45 positive two-digit integers divisible by 2 2 are chosen as this would make the task of finding co-prime pair easier and this will not be the worst-case scenario \textbf{worst-case scenario} we are looking for.

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