The positive integer is the smallest integer that can be expressed as a sum of 3 consecutive integers, as a sum of 7 consecutive integers, and as a sum of 10 consecutive integers.
Can be expressed as a sum of 9 consecutive odd integers?
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.
If n is expressable as a sum of 3 consecutive integers, then n = k 1 + ( k 1 + 1 ) + ( k 1 + 2 ) = 3 k 1 + 3 = 3 ( k 1 + 1 ) We see that n is divisible by 3 .
Now, if n is expressable as a sum of 7 consecutive integers, then n = k 2 + ( k 2 + 1 ) + ( k 2 + 2 ) + ( k 2 + 3 ) + ( k 2 + 4 ) + ( k 2 + 5 ) + ( k 2 + 6 ) = 7 k 2 + 2 1 = 7 ( k 2 + 3 ) We see that n is divisible by 7 .
Finally, if n is expressable as a sum of 1 0 consecutive integers, then n = k 3 + ( k 3 + 1 ) + ( k 3 + 2 ) + ( k 3 + 3 ) + ( k 3 + 4 ) + ( k 3 + 5 ) + ( k 3 + 6 ) + ( k 3 + 7 ) + ( k 3 + 8 ) + ( k 3 + 9 ) = 1 0 k 3 + 4 5 = 5 ( 2 k 3 + 9 ) We see that n is divisible by 5 . Furthermore, we note from here that n must be odd (since 2 k 3 + 9 is always odd for all integers k 3 and 5 is odd).
To summarize, n should be divisible by 3 , 7 , 5 and n should be odd. The smallest such number is n = 3 × 5 × 7 = 1 0 5 . However, assuming n is expressable as a sum of 9 consecutive odd integers, n = k 4 + ( k 4 + 2 ) + ( k 4 + 4 ) + ( k 4 + 6 ) + ( k 4 + 8 ) + ( k 4 + 1 0 ) + ( k 4 + 1 2 ) + ( k 4 + 1 4 ) + ( k 4 + 1 6 ) = 9 k 4 + 7 2 = 9 ( k 4 + 8 ) then n must be divisible by 9 . But 1 0 5 is not divisible by 9 , a contradiction.
Thus, n is not expressable as a sum of 9 consecutive odd integers.