Beginner General Number Theory

Shef’s Scholars
Due April 20th 2024

1 Introduction
Be sure to attempt all the problems by the end of Friday. Spend at least 10
minutes per problem because you may be called out to talk about the ideas you
came up with or tried for any problem. If you solve a problem, think about
and write down what hints you would give other scholars who are stuck on the
problem and would like a bit of a push.
Send 3 documents: The LaTeX .tex file of your solution, the pdf of your
LaTeX solution, and a .txt file with the difficulty scores on a scale from 1-10 for
each of the problems. Write down the hints in the LaTeX file.

1
2 Problems
1. Is it possible that the product of three consecutive natural numbers be
equal to:
(a) 1000005?
(b) 1000000?
(c) 999900?
2. The Shef sells pears, apples, peaches, and bananas at the market. She
has more than 50 but less than 100 fruits in total. The number of pears
and apples is the same, and together they make up one third of the total
number of fruits. Of the remaining fruits, 57 are not bananas. How many
apples and how many peaches does The Shef have?
14x+5 17x−5
3. Is there an integer x for which both numbers 9 and 12 are integers?

4. Determine the digits M and N , M ̸= 0, such that the number M 1995 +

1996N is divisible by 44.
5. There are nine cards in a pile. The first is labeled 1, the second 2, ...,
the last 9. The Shef draws some five cards, while the Machine takes the
remaining four. Afterwards, both calculate the product of the numbers
on the cards they took and tell that number to the Apprentice. The
Apprentice adds the two numbers. Is it possible that this sum is a prime
number?

6. Find all prime numbers that can simultaneously be represented as the sum
of two prime numbers and as the difference of two prime numbers.
7. Determine all pairs (a, b) of natural numbers such that 10 | a! + b! and
8 ∤ a! + b!.

8. Determine all pairs (p, q) of prime numbers such that p2 + 16 = q(q − 1).
9. While multiplying two three-digit numbers, a student noticed that if he
writes these numbers next to each other, the resulting six-digit number is
7 times greater than the product of those numbers. Which numbers was
the student multiplying?
a+1
10. Determine all pairs (a, b) of natural numbers such that both numbers b
and b+2
a are natural.