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Find the largest integer such that it is divisible by all natural numbers less than its square root.

This is part of the set My Problems and THRILLER


The answer is 24.

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2 solutions

Steven Jim
Apr 16, 2017

(This is definitely not a solution, yet an idea. Please check out if this idea works. And I'm sorry if this is confusing.)

If we can prove that [[...[[2,3],4]...],x] > (x+1)^2 - 1 for x > 4 then we can be sure that x < 4 or x = 4

If [[...[[2,3],4]...],x] < (x+1)^2 - 1 then we can conclude that there exists at least a number from [[...[[2,3],4]...],x] to (x+1)^2 - 1 so that it is divisible by all natural numbers from 1 to x.

[a,b] is the same as LCM [a,b] by the way.

@Brian Charlesworth Any ideas, sir?

It is clear that the number has to be even, since it has to be divisible by 2. It is also clear it has to be a multiple of a factorial. A little play with the factorisation of factorials leads to the answer, 24

why would it have to be the multiple of a factorial?

maxime weill - 4 years, 1 month ago

It's so so unclear. Any further explanations, please?

Steven Jim - 4 years, 1 month ago

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