Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Exercise (2.2).9

Test the following numbers for compositeness. If they are composite, give their prime decomposition:

(a) $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) − 1$

(b) $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) + 1$


(a) $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) − 1 = 209$. We only need to test prime factors less than or equal to $\lfloor \sqrt{209} \rfloor = 14$.  However, the form $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) − 1$ tells us that 2,3,5 and 7 are not prime factors. So we only need to test 11 and 13.

This gives us

$ 209 = 11 \times 19 $


(b) $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) + 1 = 211$. We only need to test prime factors less than or equal to $\lfloor \sqrt{211} \rfloor = 14$.  However, the form $(2 × 3 × 5 × 7) + 1$ tells us that 2,3,5 and 7 are not prime factors. So we only need to test 11 and 13.

211 does not have any such factors, and so is prime.