How Do I Simplify These Fractions?

100 ! 101 , 101 ! 102 , 102 ! 103 , 103 ! 104 \large \dfrac{100!}{101}, \quad \dfrac{101!}{102} , \quad\dfrac{102!}{103}, \quad \dfrac{103!}{104}

Which of the numbers above is the largest?

100 ! 101 \frac{100!}{101} 101 ! 102 \frac{101!}{102} 102 ! 103 \frac{102!}{103} 103 ! 104 \frac{103!}{104}

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1 solution

We will look at the ratio of these fractions with each other: 100 ! 101 101 ! 102 = 102 10 1 2 < 1 101 ! 102 > 100 ! 101 101 ! 102 102 ! 103 = 103 10 2 2 < 1 102 ! 103 > 101 ! 102 102 ! 103 103 ! 104 = 104 10 3 2 < 1 103 ! 104 > 102 ! 103 \begin{aligned} \dfrac{\frac{100!}{101}}{\frac{101!}{102}}&= \dfrac{102}{101^2}<1\implies \boxed{\dfrac{101!}{102}>\dfrac{100!}{101}}\\ \dfrac{\frac{101!}{102}}{\frac{102!}{103}}&= \dfrac{103}{102^2}<1\implies \boxed{\dfrac{102!}{103}>\dfrac{101!}{102}}\\ \dfrac{\frac{102!}{103}}{\frac{103!}{104}}&= \dfrac{104}{103^2}<1\implies \boxed{\dfrac{103!}{104}>\dfrac{102!}{103}}\end{aligned} Now we have the following chain inequality: 103 ! 104 > 102 ! 103 > 101 ! 102 > 100 ! 101 \dfrac{103!}{104}>\dfrac{102!}{103}>\dfrac{101!}{102}>\dfrac{100!}{101} Therefore the largest number is 103 ! 104 \boxed{\dfrac{103!}{104}}

Moderator note:

Nice approach of comparing these terms pairwise. We were lucky that 3 comparisons gave us the entire inequality chain.

A nice solution too! My approach was to set all the numerators to be same and only compare their denominators.

Chung Kevin - 5 years, 2 months ago

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