[Math] Proving a number doesn’t divide another and proving $lcm$ using the definition

divisibilityelementary-number-theory

Say I have two integers $a,b$ and I want to prove that $a\not \mid b$ or $ak\neq b$, do I have to take two adjacent $k$s such that $ak_1 < b$ and $ak_2> b$? Is there another way?

Another question, say I want to prove $lcm(9,15)=45$ using $lcm$'s definition, the condition that both divide $45$ is easy, but for proving that there is no $y$ such that $y<45$ and $y$ is divisible by both $9,15$, do I have to show that for every other multiple of $9,15$ that is smaller than $45$ it isn't divisible by $9$ or $15$?

i.e. $9,18,27,36$ aren't divisible by $15$ and $15,30$ aren't divisible by $9$.

Best Answer

To prove that $a$ does not divide $b$, simply calculate $b:a$ with remainder and show that the remainder is $\ne 0$.

To prove that $lcm(a,b)=c$ , first show that $a$ and $b$ divide $c$, as you mentioned.

Suppose, $d$ is the $lcm$. Let $c=ed+f$ with $0\le f < d$. Since $c$ and $d$ are common multipliers, $f=c-ed$ also is a commom multiplier. If $f$ would be $\ne 0$, $d$ would not be the least common multiplier.

So we can conclude $f=0$. So, $d$ must be a divisor of $c$.

So you only have to check the divisors of $c$, if they are common multipliers.

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