Sunday, 2 November 2025

Exercise (2.4).6

Find the LCM of the following:

(a) $[60, 100]$

(b) $[600, 1 000]$

(c) $[6 000, 10 000]$

What do you notice about your results?


(a) The prime decompositions are

$60 = 2^2 \times 3^1 \times 5^1$

$100 = 2^2 \times 5^2$

The LCM $[60,100] = 2^2 \times 3^1 \times 5^2 = 300$


(b) The prime decompositions are

$600 = 2^3 \times 3^1 \times 5^2$

$1000 = 2^3 \times 5^3$

The LCM $[60,100] = 2^3 \times 3^1 \times 5^3 = 3000$


(a) The prime decompositions are

$6000 = 2^4 \times 3^1 \times 5^3$

$10000 = 2^4 \times 5^4$

The LCM $[60,100] = 2^4 \times 3^1 \times 5^4 = 30000$


We notice that

$$[10a,10b] = 10 \times [a,b]$$

for integers $a,b$.