Which is the largest positive even integer which 'cannot' be expressed as the sum of two odd composite numbers?
Eg :
. In each case, there is at least one number in the sum which is not an odd composite number.
On the other hand, . In this case, there is a combination of two odd composite numbers.
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3 8 = 3 7 + 1 = 3 5 + 3 = 3 3 + 5 = 3 1 + 7 = 2 9 + 9 = 2 7 + 1 1 = 2 5 + 1 3 = 2 3 + 1 5 = 2 1 + 1 7 = 1 9 + 1 9 .
There is no combination where both the odd numbers are composite.
For numbers greater than 38, we have
4 0 = 2 5 + 1 5 , 4 2 = 2 7 + 1 5 , 4 4 = 3 5 + 9 , 4 6 = 2 5 + 2 1 , 4 8 = 3 3 + 1 5 , 5 0 = 3 5 + 1 5 , 5 2 = 2 7 + 2 5 , 5 4 = 2 7 + 2 7 , 5 8 = 3 3 + 2 5 , 6 0 = 4 5 + 1 5 , 6 2 = 3 5 + 2 7 , 6 4 = 3 9 + 2 5 , 6 6 = 3 3 + 3 3 , 6 8 = 3 5 + 3 3 .
Each of the numbers on the RHS of the equations are either a multiple of 3 or of 5 or both.
Any even number greater than 68 can be written as
n = 3 0 k + n 1 , where n 1 ∈ { 4 0 , 4 2 , ⋯ , 6 8 } and if n 1 = c 1 + c 2 , then n = 3 0 k + c 1 + c 2 . Now, c 1 is composite and is divisible by 3 or 5. This would mean that 3 0 k + c 1 is also composite since 3 0 k would be divisible by 3 and 5.
Hence, any even number greater than 38 can be expressed as a sum of two odd composite numbers.