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Difficulty: 3/102022 NMTC 2022 (QII-33)

The product of consecutive positive integers is divisible by

Guide / Hint

Hint 1: Let the product be .

Hint 2: Relate this product to the combination formula .

Hint 3: Since the number of combinations is always a whole number, what does that imply about divisibility of by ?

Solution

Step 1 (Formulate the Product): Let the product of consecutive positive integers be represented by:

where is the largest of these consecutive integers.

Step 2 (Relate to Binomial Coefficients): The definition of the binomial coefficient is:

Step 3 (Integrality Property): A fundamental mathematical property is that the binomial coefficient is always an integer for any positive integers .
Since :

This proves that the product of consecutive positive integers is always divisible by .

Step 4 (Conclusion): The product is divisible by r!.

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    2022 NMTC 2022 QII-33 - Olympiad Math Olympiad Question | Leminno