The product of two consecutive natural numbers is

Let Y = n ( n + 1 ) Y = n(n+1) for some positive integer n n . Which of the following statements is true?

Y Y is never a perfect square. Y Y is always odd. Y Y is never even. Y Y is always a prime.

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8 solutions

Suppose n 2 + n n^2+n can be a square. Then for some positive integer m m , n 2 + n = m 2 n^2+n=m^2 . It is clear that m > n m>n . But n = m 2 n 2 = ( m n ) ( m + n ) > m + n > n n=m^2-n^2=(m-n)(m+n)>m+n>n , which is a contradiction.

A better argument would be to notice that n 2 < n ( n + 1 ) < ( n + 1 ) 2 n^2 < n (n+1) < (n+1)^2 , which means n ( n + 1 ) n (n+1) lies between two consecutive perfect squares. So it can't be a perfect Square.

Shourya Pandey - 7 years, 1 month ago

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exactly it is. thank you

Mohammad Abu Saleh - 7 years ago

put some starting natural numbers i,e 1,2,3,4,............. and you will observe

Baba Saaen - 7 years, 1 month ago

How m > n , please Help !

Syed Baqir - 5 years, 11 months ago

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We can graph y = sqrt(n^2+n)

Kano Boom - 1 year, 5 months ago

What happened if n=0?

Abdelrhman Elgendy - 5 years, 8 months ago

Absolutely correct way ..vijay sir

Manu Attri - 7 years ago

m-n<1 always. so p*(m+n)<m+n ; here p=m-n; so, (m-n)(m+n) never > m+n You have made a mistake :)

Mahmudul Hasan - 7 years, 1 month ago

I think the best solution will be by taking an example such 5*6 = 30. It satisfies the remaining conditions so we are left with only one option

Shreyans Pokharna - 7 years, 1 month ago

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Doing a case to case proof is not enough to prove a statement. It must satisfy the quantifier "for all natural numbers."

Roi Solomon Labay - 7 years, 1 month ago

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I think he's making the assumption that the question has one correct answer which to be fair, he has a case for given the way the question has been posed. By observing three of them are not correct, in this case he's arguing that in order for one of them to be correct, it has to be that one. Whilst its not my favorite solution to this specific problem, i have no great issue with it.

Richard Smart - 7 years, 1 month ago

However, you haven't proved that the correct statement is always correct. You can get the answer, but it would not be a solution.

Daniel Liu - 7 years, 1 month ago
Khurram Javed
May 12, 2014

n and (n+1)are co-prime. ==> n(n+1) is a square iff n AND n+1 are squares. Which is never true!

2 * 8 = 16 = 4 * 4

Richard Polak - 7 years ago

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but 2+1 not equal to 8 even 8+1 is not equal to 2

Arvin San Miguel - 7 years ago
Vishakh Venugopal
May 14, 2014

Simple logic .. n(n+1) is never a square of a number

for the consecutive numbers,11,12,13,14,15------->the value of Y ,which is the product of n and n+1,is always even------>neccesarily may not be square.More over other options do not fit

Tariq Al-Bayer
Sep 21, 2020

If you need to multiply a number by itself to get a perfect square, then if you multiply a number by any different number it will not be a square

Ryan Matthew
Feb 5, 2018

Don't forget those imaginary roots

“Y is always odd,” means the same thing as, “Y is never even,” so the only two possible choices are C and D. C can’t be right because n = 1 means the result is 2, which is prime. So D must be correct.

y=n^2+1 which is never a square....since discriminant is never 0

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