1983 AHSME Problems/Problem 3

Problem 3

Three primes $p,q$ , and $r$ satisfy $p+q = r$ and $1 < p < q$ . Then $p$ equals

$\textbf{(A)}\ 2\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 3\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 7\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 13\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 17$

Solution

We are given that $p,q$ and $r$ are primes. In order for $p$ and $q$ to sum to another prime, either $p$ or $q$ has to be even, because the sum of two odd numbers would be even, and the only even prime is $2$ (but $p + q = 2$ would have, as the only solution in positive integers, $p = q = 1$ , and $1$ is not prime). Thus, with one of either $p$ or $q$ being even, either $p$ or $q$ must be $2$ , and as $p < q$ , we deduce $p = 2$ (as $2$ is the smallest prime). This means the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 2}$ .

1983 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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1983 AHSME Problems/Problem 3

Problem 3

Solution

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