L.C.M.xH.C.F.=productofnumbers?

YueKwokChoy
1. Fortwopositiveintegers a,b:

a b L. C. M. H. C. F.
Forexample,
a 2 3 5 120
b 2 3 18
L. C. M. 2 3 5 360
H. C. F. 2 3 6
a b 120 18 2160
L. C. M. H. C. F. 360 6 2160
a b L. C. M. H. C. F.

Theproofisnotdifficult:
LettheH.C.F.oftwonumbers a,b be H.C.F.
Wethenhave : a=H.C.F.r
b=H.C.F.s
where H.C.F.(r,s)=1,i.e.randshavenocommonfactors.
Then
as=H.C.F.rs .. (1)
br=H.C.F.rs .. (2)

Now,sincerandshavenocommonfactors,wecannottakeoutafactorgreaterthan1in
the product rs. Hence,
H.C.F.rs=L.C.M. .. (3)

(1)(2), a b r s H. C. F. r s
a b H. C. F. r s H. C. F.
L. C. M. H. C. F. ,by(3)

2. Giventhreepositiveintegers,a,b,c:

a b c L. C. M. H. C. F.

WhatistherelationbetweentheproductabcandL.C.M.andH.C.F.ofa,b,c?

HereisanassertionIgotthroughtheinternet.TheoriginalisinChinese.Imakesome
translationandrearrangements,withtheworkingsshownbelow.However,theassertionis
unfortunatelywrong.Canyoudisproveit?


Let theH.C.F.ofthreenumbers a,b,c be H.C.F.
Wethenhave : a=H.C.F.r
b=H.C.F.s
c=H.C.F.t
where H.C.F.(r,s,t)=1,i.e.r,sandthavenocommonfactors.

Then
ast=H.C.F.rst .. (i)
brt=H.C.F.rst .. (ii)
crs=H.C.F.rst .. (iii)

Now,sincer,sandthavenocommonfactors,wecannottakeoutafactor
greaterthan1intheproduct rst.
Hence,

H.C.F. rst =L.C.M. .. (iv)

(i)(ii)(iii), a b c rst H. C. F. rst

a b c H. C. F. rst
H. C. F. rst H. C. F.
L. C. M. H. C. F. , ,by(iv).

Thebestwaytodisproveanassertionisnottofindwhereitmakesmistake.(although
thisisreallyverygoodexerciseforbrightreaderstodoso.)Thebestwayistofinda
counterexample.

a 2 3 5 30
b 2 3 12
c 2

Hence a b c 30 12 2 720
L. C. M. 2 3 5 60
H. C. F. 2
L. C. M. H. C. F. 60 2 240
a b c L. C. M. H. C. F.

Agoodcounterexamplecankillanassertion!

3. L.C.M.,H.C.F.andproductof3numbers

Ifindthefollowingrelation:

Given a,b,carepositiveintegers,

LCM a, b, c HCF a, b HCF b, c HCF c, a
abc .
HCF a, b, c

Canwehaveaproof?Yes,itisdifficulttoshow,butnotimpossible.

Weguideourproofwiththehelpofadeliberatelymadeexample.
a 60 2 3 5 2
Let b 126 2 3 7 3 .. (5)
c 70 2 5 7
Thenumbersarewritteninprimefactors,butnotintheusualuniquerepresentation
withprimefactorsandindices.Wetakeoutfactorsinthefollowingorder:

(a) WetakeouttheHCF(a,b,c),inthiscaseis2.
(b) ThenwetakeoutcommonfactorsofaandbnotincludedintheH.C.F.(a,b,c).
HCF ,
Inthiscaseis3.NotethatH.C.F.(a,b)is6 and 3 .
HCF , ,

(c) ThenwetakeoutcommonfactorsofbandcnotincludedintheH.C.F.(a,b,c).
HCF ,
Inthiscaseis3.NotethatH.C.F.(a,b)is10 and 5 .
HCF , ,

(d) ThenwetakeoutcommonfactorsofcandanotincludedintheH.C.F.(a,b,c).
HCF ,
Inthiscaseis3.NotethatH.C.F.(a,b)is14 and 7 .
HCF , ,

(e) Lastlyweplaceallotherfactorsintherightmostposition.Inthiscase,2foraand3for
b. Theotherfactors forahavenocommonfactorswiththeotherfactorsforbor
c. Similarlyconclusionholdsforbsorcs remainingfactors.

Thegivennumbersa,b,cin(5)maybemoreorlesscomplicate,butwecanalways
arrangeusingtheabovescheme. Therefore ingeneral:
HCF , HCF ,
a HCF a, b, c d
HCF , , HCF , ,
HCF , HCF ,
b HCF a, b, c e .. (6)
HCF , , HCF , ,
HCF , HCF ,
c HCF a, b, c f
HCF , , HCF , ,

whered,e,fareotherfactorsmentionedin(e)above.


TheL.C.M.ofthegivennumericalexample(5)is 2 3 5 7 2 3 1260 .
SotheL.C.M.of(6)isgivenby
HCF , HCF , HCF ,
LCM a, b, c HCF a, b, c def
HCF , , HCF , , HCF , ,

HCF , HCF , HCF ,

def .. (7)
HCF , ,

Theproductofthenumbersin(5)is:
abc 2 3 5 2 2 3 7 3 2 5 7 60 126 70 529200
Similarlyfor(6),
HCF , HCF , HCF ,
abc HCF a, b, c def
HCF , , HCF , , HCF , ,

HCF , HCF , HCF ,

def
HCF , ,

HCF , HCF , HCF , HCF , HCF , HCF ,

def
HCF , , HCF , ,

HCF , HCF , HCF ,

LCM a, b, c ,by(7).
HCF , ,

whichisthesameas
LCM a, b, c HCF a, b HCF b, c HCF c, a
abc .
HCF a, b, c

4. Furtheron.
Given a,b,c,darepositiveintegers,

Let HCF2 HCF a, b HCF a, c HCF a, d HCF b, c HCF b, d HCF c, d

HCF3 HCF a, b, c HCF a, b, d HCF a, c, d HCF b, c, d
HCF4 HCF a, b, c, d

LCM a, b, c, d HCF2 HCF4
abcd .
HCF3
Furtheronwehave
LCM a, b, c, d, HCF2 HCF4 HCF6 .
abcd .
HCF3 HCF5 .
whereHCF5,HCF6,. aresimilarlydefined.

5. Exercise
CanyouuseaspreadsheetsuchasEXCELtocheckthecorrectnessoftheabove
equations(4),(8) fortheproductof3or4integers?Doyouthinkthatequation(9)isalso
correct?