Re: 2012 HSC MX2 Marathon
New question: Prove by induction that every natural number greater than 2 has a prime divisor.
There is a stronger result, that every natural number greater than 1 has a prime divisor. Anyhow, several methods, first as per the question states:
Assume a set
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white Q = \{2, 3, \cdots, k-1\})
where
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \forall \ n \in Q)
, then n > 1 and n has a prime divisor. Now to show that k exists in Q is quite straightforward with the following partition:
If k has no other factors than k or 1, then k is trivially in Q.
If k is nonprime, then k will have a factor w such that
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 1<w<k)
, thus
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white w \in Q)
by the inductive hypothesis.
hence
Next method is to show a even stronger result, in other words, the fundmental theorem of arithmetic.
Assume that there are numbers which can not be expressed as a product of primes. Let the smallest possible number of this kind be
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
.
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
can not be
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 1)
since
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 1)
is neither composite nor prime.
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
can not be prime since the PPF of a prime number is just itself. Thus
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
must be a composite number.
Let the composition of
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m = ab)
where
Since
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
was the smallest number that can not be expressed as a product of primes, this means
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white a)
and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white b)
can be expressed as a product of primes and consequently we get
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m = ab)
where
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white a)
and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white b)
can be both expressed as primes. Contradiction!
Thus
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
can also be expressed as a product of primes.
Lemma 1: If
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p)
is a prime and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p|a_1a_2a_3 \cdots a_n)
then
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p|a_i)
for some
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white i)
.
Lemma 2: If
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p)
and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white q)
are primes and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white e)
is a natural number and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p|q^e)
then
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p=q)
.
Let's assume that for some number
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white k)
that there are
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 2)
(at least) ways of expressing its PPF.
Clearly for all
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mbox{n})
,
By
Lemma 1 ![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_n|q_m^{e_m})
for any
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
.
By
Lemma 2
This means that for all
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mbox{n})
and all
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white m)
there are values of
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p)
which equals to those of
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white q)
. For example,
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_3)
could equal to
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white q_5)
, or
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_6=q_3)
etc. This also means we have created a bijection between
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p)
and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white q)
such that
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white n = m)
.
Therefore if the number
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white k)
has
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 2)
PPF's then the prime number 'base' will be exactly the same, the only different would be in the powers, namely
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white f_n)
and
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white e_m)
.
Now since each
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_n)
has a corespondent equivalent
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white q_m)
we can rewrite
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white k)
as:
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mbox{LHS}|p_1)
however
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white \mbox{RHS})
can not be divided by
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_1)
unless for some
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white 2 \le j \le n)
such that
But since
![](https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?\bg_white p_1 \neq p_2 \neq p_3 \neq \cdots \neq p_n)
we have a contradiction.