1989 IMO Problems/Problem 5
Contents
Problem
Prove that for each positive integer there exist
consecutive positive integers none of which is an integral power of a prime number.
Solution 1
There are at most 'true' powers
in the set
. So when
gives the amount of 'true' powers
we get that
.
Since also , we get that
. Now assume that there is no 'gap' of lenght at least
into the set of 'true' powers and the primes. Then this would give that
for all
in contrary to the above (at east this proves a bit more).
Edit: to elementarize the part:
Look
. Then all numbers in the residue classes
are not primes (except the smallest representants sometimes). So when there wouldn't exist a gap of length
, there has to be a 'true' power in each of these gaps of the prime numbers, so at least one power each
numbers, again contradicting
.
This solution was posted and copyrighted by ZetaX. The original thread for this problem can be found here: [1]
Solution 2
By the Chinese Remainder Theorem, there exists such that:
where
are distinct primes.
The
consecutive numbers
each have at least two prime factors, so none of them can be expressed as an integral power of a prime.
See Also
1989 IMO (Problems) • Resources | ||
Preceded by Problem 4 |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 | Followed by Problem 6 |
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