Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 3

Let us introduce the notation – we denote the product of all natural numbers from 1 to \(n\) by \(n!\). For example, \(5!=1\times2\times3\times4\times5=120\).

a) Prove that the product of any three consecutive natural numbers is divisible by \(3!=6\).

b) What about the product of any four consecutive natural numbers? Is it always divisible by 4!=24?

In a row there are 20 different natural numbers. The product of every two of them standing next to one another is the square of a natural number. The first number is 42. Prove that at least one of the numbers is greater than 16,000.