Year 7 Number Theory

Dr J Frost ([email protected])
www.drfrostmaths.com
Objectives: Have an appreciation of properties of integers (whole
numbers), including finding the Lowest Common Multiple, Highest
Common Factor, and using the prime factorisation of numbers for a
variety of purposes. Reason about divisibility in equations.

Last modified: 22nd July 2018

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For Teacher Use:
Recommended lesson structure:

Lesson 1: Introduction to Number Theory/Sums of primes + squares problems Go >

Lesson 2: Prime Factorisation Go >
Lesson 3: Factors using Prime Factorisation Go >
Lesson 4: LCM/HCF Go >
Lesson 5: Divisibility Rules Go >

Extension 1: Divisibility of Terms/Within Equations Go >

Extension 2: More on Squares and Cubes Go >

Even More Stuff! Go >

Starter
List the following numbers in your books. Bro Pro Tip: You should
try to memorise these.

The first 16 square numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100,
121, 144, 169, 196, ? 225, 256
The first 8 cube numbers: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512
?
The prime numbers up to 40: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31,
37 ?
The first 10 triangular numbers: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66
(e.g. 3 is a triangular number as you can form a
triangle using 1 dot on the first row and 2 on the next) ?
If you finish:
A ‘perfect’ number is a number who factors (excluding itself) add up to itself.
For example. The factors of 6 (excluding 6) are 1, 2, 3, and .
Find the first perfect number after 6.

Bro Fact: All perfect numbers Solution: ?

are triangular numbers.
Other numbers you might want to investigate yourself:
Tetrahedric numbers, Fibonacci numbers.
Key Terms

! ?
Integer: A whole number.
? is at least 1.
Positive integer: An integer that
Non-negative integer: An integer that ? is at least 0.
Perfect square: For integers, just ?a square number.
Divisor: Another word ? for factor.
Composite: The opposite of prime: ? has other factors.
! Distinct integers: Bro Side Note: A ‘perfect
square’ more generally refers to
Numbers which ?are different! ‘something squared’, which can
be an algebraic expression.
For example is a ‘perfect
square’, but is not necessarily a
square number, e.g. if (as )
Puzzles involving sums of primes/squares/…
Example: Goldbach’s Conjecture (as of current, unproven!) states that all even
numbers greater than 2 are the sum of two primes.
Bro Tip: It often
How many ways are there of expressing 100 as the sum of two primes?
helps to write
Solution: 6 (3 + 97, 11 + 89, 17 + 83, 29 + 71, 41 + 59, 47 + 53) out your
? numbers of
interest (primes,
squares, …) first.

Further Example: The Indian mathematician Ramanujan once famously noted

that the 1729 number of a taxi ridden by his friend Hardy:
“is a very interesting number; it is the smallest integer expressible as a sum
of two different cubes in two different ways”.
What is the smallest integer (not necessarily a square) that is expressible as
the sum of two distinct squares in two different ways?
(Hint: 1 is used in one of the sums)

?
(Side note: the smallest square number expressible as the sum of two
squares in two different ways is )
Exercise 1
(Problems on provided sheet)

Bro Tip: Again,

1 [JMC 2015 Q11] What is the smallest prime number that is the use your lists of
sum of three different prime numbers?
numbers from
A 11 B 15 C 17
the starter.
D 19 E 23
Solution: D
?
2 [JMO 1999 A2] In how many different ways can 50 be written as
the sum of two prime numbers? (Note: and do not count as
different.)
Solution: 4 ways () ?
3 [JMO 2009 A3] The positive whole numbers and are all
different and
. What is the value of ?
Solution: 17
?
Exercise 1
[JMC 2015 Q19] One of the following cubes is the smallest cube that can be written as the
4
sum of three positive cubes. Which is it?
A 27 B 64 C 15
D 216 E 512

Solution: D ?
5 [JMC 2006 Q20] The sum of three different prime numbers is 40. What is the difference
between the two biggest of these numbers?
A 8 B 12 C 16
D 20 E 24
Important Note: If three numbers sum to an even
number, they can’t all be odd. But 2 is the only even
Solution: E ? number, so must be one of the numbers.

[JMC 2010 Q22] Kiran writes down six different prime numbers, , all less than 20, such
6
that . What is the value of ?
A 16 B 18 C 20
D 22 E 24

Solution: E ?
7 [TMC Regional 2009 Q9] 12345 can be expressed as the sum of two primes in exactly one
way. What is the larger of the two primes?

?
Solution: 12343. Note that odd = odd + even only. Thus one of the two primes must be 2.
Exercise 1

[JMO 2006 A9] The prime number 11 may be written as the

N
sum of three prime numbers in two different ways: and .
What is the smallest prime number which can be written two
different ways as the sum of the three prime numbers which
are all different?

?
Solution: 23

N [JMO 2014 B6] The sum of four different prime numbers is a

prime number. The sum of some pair of the numbers is a
prime number, as is the sum of some triple of the numbers.
What is the smallest possible sum of the four prime numbers?

?
Year 7 Prime Factorisation
Prime Factorisation
To find the prime factorisation of a number is to express it as a product of
prime numbers.

30=2 ×3 × 5 ?
?
Bro Tip: While is also correct, we can use ‘index notation’ to group
prime factors together that are the same.

?3 We can use a ‘tree’ to help us

120 ¿ 2 × 3× 5 with the working.
For each number, find two
20 6 numbers the multiply to give
it.

4 5 2 3 If you get to a prime, we can’t

branch out further, so we
have a ‘leaf’. It’s helpful to
2 2 circle the leaves.
Another quick example

2 3
2250=2 × 3 ×
? 5
2250
225 10
45 Possible Tree
5 2 5
?
9 5

3 3
Check Your Understanding
Using a tree, find the prime factorisation of 1350.
When done, try coming up with more trees. What do you notice about the final result
in each case?
3 2
1350=2 ×3 × 5
?

1350 1350

5 270
10 135
3
2 5 5 27 Some Possible
90
Trees
3 9 ?3 30
5 6
3 3
2 3

We always end up with the same leaves each time, and hence the same factorisation.
Fundamental Law of Arithmetic/Unique Factorisation Theorem: Every positive integer
can be uniquely expressed as a product of primes.
 Prime Factorising a number already in index form
Sometimes you might have a number with powers, but the base (the big number) is
not prime. How would you prime factorise this? What if a base was repeated?

3 ?
3 3 4
10 =( 2 ×5 2
) ×2 ?
?
?
?

Bro Note: This is an example of a ‘law

of indices’, which you will learn more
about in Year 8.
Quickfire Questions:
Working:
N:
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
Exercise 2
1 By drawing a tree of otherwise, find prime 4 Prime factorise the following:
factorisations (in index form) for the following ?
numbers.
? ?
?
Suppose 1 was considered to be a
? ?
prime number. Explain why this
Is odd or even? ?
An odd number to any power?is always odd.
?
violates the Fundamental Law of
Arithmetic.
? N1
For example, 6 could be expressed as
Put in prime factorised form:
? or or . But FLA states there is a
? unique factorisation for each integer.
Thus 1 is not prime.
2
? [TMC Regional 2012 Q4] Find the sum
of all numbers less than 120 which are
3
?
the product of exactly three different
? prime factors.
? Solution: 717
? N2
?
?
?
?
Year 7 Using Prime Factorisations
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?
(use front of planner for true, back for false)

Q1 a factor of ?

True False

Remarks: You can think of as numbers in a

3 Venn Diagram.
If we make any selection from the numbers
2 in this collection, we can form a factor.
5
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?

Q2 a multiple of ?

True False

Remarks: If is a multiple of , then must be a

factor of .
7

7 3
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?

Q3 a factor of ?

True False

2 Remarks: Yes, if we have , we can select three of

2
these 2s to form a factor.
2 2 2
More generally, will be a factor of provided that .
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?

Q4 a factor of ?

True False

3 Remarks: No. We have one 2 and three 3s

available. can’t be a factor because we don’t
2 3 have two 2s available.
3
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?

Q5 Is a factor of ?

True False

3
2 2 Remarks: Yes, we have three 2s, two 3s and one 5
available.
2 3 We can select a 3 and a 5 to form a factor of 15.

5
Using prime factorisations

TRUE OF FALSE?

Q6 a multiple of ?

True False

2 2
Remarks: We could equivalently ask whether is a
2 factor of .
3 The answer is no because there are only two 3s
2 5
available in , so a factor couldn’t use three 3s.
3
2
Listing factors
TASK: List all the factors of
(leaving each factor in prime factorised form)

Help: Remember we have a factor of a

?

2 2
number if we make some selection from
all the prime factors.
?

2 ×3
?
3
? 2

? 2 3
?
?
? We get 1 as the factor in the
special case where we use
? none of the prime factors
(note that 1 is not prime!)
Further Practice
1 List all the factors of (leaving 2 List all the factors of (leaving
each factor in prime factorised each factor in prime factorised
form) form)

3 6
3 ×5 2 ? ?
Number of factors
How many factors does have?
We can see that has 9 factors. But could
we have obtained this number without
having to list them all out?

2 2
2 ×3
Q: How many possibilities were there for the
number of 2s we use for a particular factor?
3 possibilities: We use 2 of them, 1 of them,
or none at all. ?
Q: How many possibilities were there for the
number of 3s we use for a particular factor?
Again 3 possibilities ?

Q: Therefore how many total possibilities (i.e.

factors) are there?
For each of the 3 possible number of 2s, there
are 3 possible number ?of 3s.
which is what we expected!
Number of factors
How many factors does have?
There are 6 possibilities for number of 3s chosen for factor (none, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
? chosen for factor (none, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
There are 7 possibilities for number of 5s
Num factors

! To get the number of factors of a number in prime factorised

form, add one to each power and times the powers together.

Quickfire Questions
How many factors does each of the following have?
factors ? factors ?
factors ? factors ?
factors ?
factors ?
factors ?
factors ?
factors ?
Test Your Understanding
1 How many factors does have?
factors ?
2 By first finding the prime factorisation, find the
number of factors of 120.

?
factors
3 Is 42 a factor of ?
No, as , but does not have a 3. ?
4 How many factors does have?

?
factors.
Exercise 3
Which of the following are factors of Without listing out the factors, work out
1 4 how many factors each of the following
? Answer true of false.
numbers have:
a) True ? a) 15 factors ?
b) False ? b) 6 factors
c) True ? c) 16 factors
?
d) False ? d)
?
11 factors
e) False
? e) 121 factors
?
List all of the twelve factors of , leaving your ?
2 Work out how many factors each of the
factors in prime factorised form. 5
following numbers have:
f) factors
Answer true or false. g) factors
?
f) is a factor of ?True h) factors
?
g) is a multiple of False i) factors
?
h) 35 is a factor of False ?
i) 24 is a factor of [JMC 2000 Q23] A certain number has
3 6
True, as ; enough 2s and 3s? are exactly eight factors including 1 and itself.
Two of its factors are 21 and 35. What is
available within . ?
? the number?
Note that and .
So the number must be some multiple of . But
? ?
this does have 8 factors, as .
Exercise 3
N [JMO 1997 B2] Every prime number has two
factors. How many integers between 1 and
200 have exactly four factors?
Solution: 59. To have four factors the
number has to be of the? form , or , where
and are prime numbers.
Year 7 HCF/LCM
Starter
List out the factors of 8 and 12.
What factors do they have in common?

Factors of 8: 1, 2, 4, 8?
Factors of 12: 1, 2, 3, 4,
? 6, 12
Factors in common: 1, 2, 4 ?

List out the some multiples of 8 and 12.

What multiples do they have in common?

Multiples of 8: 8, 16, 24, 32,? 40, 48, …

Multiples of 12: ? 60, 72, …
12, 24, 36, 48,
Multiples in common: 24, 48, 72, …?
Lowest Common Multiple/Highest Common Factor

Multiples of 8: 8, 16, 24, 32, …

Multiples of 12: 12, 24, 36, …

Lowest Common Multiple of 8 and 12: 24 ?

For small numbers, we can list out
multiples of the larger number until we see
a multiple of the smaller number.

Factors of 8: 1, 2, 4, 8
Factors of 12: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12

Highest Common Factor of 8 and 12: 4?

For small numbers, we can list out factors
of each number and choose the greatest
number which is common.
Check Your Understanding
Bro Shortcut: Any multiple

𝐿𝐶𝑀 ( 60 ,72 ) =𝟑𝟔𝟎 ?

1 of 60 ends with a 0.
Therefore the multiple of 72
must be x5, x10, …
?
Bro Shortcut: Any number which goes
into 60 and 72 must also go into their
difference! (i.e. 12)

?
2
𝐿𝐶𝑀 ( 12,21 )=𝟖𝟒
?
I have to take two different pills on a regular basis to combat Frostitus. Pill
3 A I take every 6 days. Pill B I take every 8 days. If I take both pills on January
1st, when is the next date I take both pills?
The number of days that have passed have to be a multiple of 6 and of 8.
?
January 25 th
But what about bigger numbers?

792, 378
Sometimes it’s not practical to use this method.
Can we use the prime factorisation somehow?

3 ?
2
792=2 ×3 ×11 ?
But what about bigger numbers?
3 2
792=2 ×3 ×11
The ‘what wins, what loses’ method

3 2
792=2 ×3 ×11 Step 1: Align numbers so that each
prime factor has its own column.

2 In terms of the 2s, what do both and have in

𝐻𝐶𝐹?= 2×
? 3 common as a factor?
Step 2: To calculate HCF, see ‘what
loses’ for each of the prime factors
(i.e. lowest power, where ‘nothing’
always loses against ‘something’).

? 3 ? 3 ?
𝐿𝐶𝑀=2? ×3 ×7×11
This time, what do both and go into?

Step 2: To calculate LCM, see ‘what wins’.

More Examples

5 2 2 2
2016=2 ×3 ×7 588=2 ×3×7
Line numbers up:

(note that if there’s a ‘draw’,

both win and both lose)
? ?
Check Your Understanding

𝟒 ? 𝟐
1936=𝟐 ?×𝟏𝟏
𝟒 𝟐 ?𝟐
𝐿𝐶𝑀=𝟐 ×𝟑 ? ×𝟏𝟏 =𝟏𝟕𝟒𝟐𝟒
If you finish…
?
𝟐 𝟐
3675=𝟑 ×𝟓 ×𝟕 ?

𝟑 𝟐 ?
𝐿𝐶𝑀=𝟑×𝟓 ×𝟕 =𝟏𝟖𝟑𝟕𝟓 ?
Exercise 4 Calculator permitted!

[JMC 2009 Q18] Six friends are having dinner together in

1 Find the LCM and HCF of the following pairs of 5 their local restaurant. The first eats there every day, the
numbers (using any suitable method). second eats there every other day, the third eats there
6 and 8 ?
HCF = 2, LCM = 24 every third day, the fourth eats there every fourth day, the
13 and 5
?
HCF = 1, LCM = 65 fifth every fifth day and the sixth eats there every sixth day.
?
12 and 15 HCF = 3, LCM = 60 They agree to have a party the next time they all eat
?
21 and 35 HCF = 7, LCM = 105 together there. In how many days’ time is the party?

2 The K4 bus comes every 9 minutes. The K3 bus comes

60 days
?
every 12 minutes. If they both come at 9am, at what 6 [IMC 2013 Q15] I have a bag of coins. In it, one third of the
time will they next arrive at the same time? coins are gold, one fifth of them are silver, two sevenths
are bronze and the rest are copper. My bag can hold a
9:36am
? maximum of 200 coins. How many coins are in my bag?
A 101 B 105 C 153 D 195
3 Find the LCM and HCF of the following pairs, by prime
factorising the numbers first. ?
Solution: B (LCM of 3, 5, 7)

a) 36 and 378 ?
LCM = 756, HCF = 18 finds the number of integers between 1 and that share no
b) 315 and 3675 ?
LCM = 11025, HCF = 105 N factors with other than 1 (i.e. the HCF is 1).
c) 72 and 66
?
LCM = 792, HCF = 6 For example because for two numbers up to 6,
d) 2880 and 792
?
LCM = 31680, HCF = 72 1 and 5, HCF(6,1) = 1 and HCF(6, 5) = 1.
?
e) 375 and 325
?
LCM = 4875, HCF = 25 a) What is ? 4
f) 252 and 2079 ?
LCM = 8316, HCF = 63 b) What is ? 6
c) What in general is for a prime number ?
?
4 Year 7 has 48 pupils in it. Year 8 has 90 pupils in it.
Each year group has to be divided into football teams, d)
?
Given that (provided that ), find
so that all teams (across both Year 7 and 8) are the
same size, and no people are left over. What’s the
largest team size? ?
Bro Note: ’s posh name is ‘Euler’s Totient Function’.

HCF(48,90) = 6
?
Year 7 Divisibility
Divisibility Rules
How can we tell if a number is divisible by: !

2 Last digit is even. ?

3 Digits add up to multiple of 3. e.g: ?1692: 1+6+9+2 = 18 
4 ? 143328
Last two digits are divisible by 4. e.g.
5 Last digit is 0 or 5. ?
6 ? tests for 2 and 3).
Number is divisible by 2 and 3 (so use
7 Double the last digit and subtract it from the remaining number, and see if the
result is divisible by 7.
?
e.g: 2464 -> 246 – 8 = 238 -> 23 – 16 = 7.
8 Last three digits divisible by 8.

9 Digits add up to multiple of 9.

?
10 Last digit 0.
?
11 ? and subtract even-positioned
When you sum odd-positioned digits
digits, the result is divisible by 11.
?
e.g. 47949: (4 + 9 + 9) – (7 + 4) = 22 – 11 = 11, which is divisible by 11.
12 Number divisible by 3 and by 4.
?
Quickfire Divisibility

4 6 7 9 11
726 ? ? ? ? ?
168 ? ? ? ? ?
9196 ? ? ? ? ?
252 ? ? ? ? ?
1001 ? ? ? ? ?
91 ? ? ? ? ?
216 ? ? ? ? ?
87912 ? ? ? ? ?
 Quickfire Mental Primes
Apart from the obvious instant checks (divisibility by 2, 5), we
usually only have to mentally check 3, 7 and 11 to have a good
‘guess’ that a number is prime.
3 7 11 Is it prime?
91 ? No ?
101 ? Yes ?
234567  ? No ?
131 ? Yes ?
781 ?  No ? Advanced: 13 trick is
“Quadruple last digit
751 ? Yes ? and add to remaining
number. Is result
221 ? No! () ? divisible by 13?

N For 221, what is the largest prime we would have had to test divisibility until we’d be certain it was prime?
?
Up to because all composite numbers have a factor (other than 1) up to the square root.
Test Your Understanding
Easier One:
[JMO 1997 A5] Precisely, one of the numbers 234, 2345, 23456, 234567, 2345678,
23456789 is a prime number. Which one must it be?

Solution: 23456789?

Harder One:
[JMC 2012 Q23] Peter wrote a list of all the numbers that could be produced by
changing one digit of the number 200. How many of the numbers on Peter’s list are
prime?
A 0 B 1 C 2 D 3 E 4

Solution: A ?
Breaking Down Divisibility Rules
Are these statements true or false?

If we want to show that a number

is divisible by 15, we can show it False  True 
is divisible by 3 and 5.
If we want to show that a number
is divisible by 24, we can show it False  True 
is divisible by 6 and 4.

The problem is that 12 is divisible by 6 and 4, but it is not divisible

by 24!
We need to pick two numbers which are coprime, i.e. do not
share any factors.
How can we therefore test if a number is divisible by 24?

! Two numbers and are coprime if

Quickfire
What divisibility rules would we use if we wanted to test divisibility by:

18 2 and 9 rules ?
45 5 and 9 ?
36 4 and 9 ?
40 5 and 8 ?
An easy Year 10 Maths Olympiad problem:
Find the smallest positive integer
which consists only of 0s and 1s,
and which is divisible by 12.
• Since in must be divisible by 4, the only
possibility for the last two digits is 00.
• It must have at least?three 1s to be divisible
by 3 (as we can’t have zero 0s).
• Therefore 11100 is the answer.
Exercise 5
Problem sheet of Junior and Intermediate Olympiad problems.
Work in pairs/groups if you wish.

Answers on next slides.

(See printout)
Question 1
[J31] Every digit of a given positive integer is either a 3 or a 4 with each occurring at least
once. The integer is divisible by both 3 and 4. What is the smallest such integer?

?
Question 2
[J50] The eight-digit number “ppppqqqq”, where p and q are digits, is a multiple of 45.
What are the possible values of p?

?
Question 3
[M07] (a) A positive integer N is written using only the digits 2 and 3, with each appearing
at least once. If N is divisible by 2 and by 3, what is the smallest possible integer N?

(b) A positive integer M is written using only the digits 8 and 9, with each appearing at
least once. If M is divisible by 8 and by 9, what is the smallest possible integer M?

?
Question 4
[M55] A palindromic number is one which reads the same when its digits are reversed, for
example 23832. What is the largest six-digit palindromic number which is exactly divisible
by 15?

?
Question 5
[J16] Find a rule which predicts exactly when five consecutive integers have sum divisible
by 15.

?
Question 6
[M96] Find the possible values of the digits p and q, given that the five-digit number
‘p543q’ is a multiple of 36.

?
Question 7
[M127] The five-digit number ‘’, where and are digits, is divisible by 36. Find all possible
such five-digit numbers.

?
Question 8
[M31] Find the smallest positive multiple of 35 whose digits are all the same as each
other.

?
Question 9
[Based on NRich] If the digits 5, 6, 7 and 8 are inserted at random in 3_1_4_0_92 (one in
each space), what is the probability that the number created will be a multiple of 396 if:
a) Each of 5, 6, 7, 8 is used exactly once in each of the four gaps.
b) Each of 5, 6, 7, 8 can be used multiple times.

[JAF solution] If number is divisible by 396, it is divisible by .

If we used one each of 5, 6, 7, 8 to fill the gaps, all three divisibility rules, for 4, 9 and 11,
would be satisfied regardless of order, since the last two digits are fixed and all inserted
digits are in even positions. Thus the probability is 1.

b) If we used 5, 6, 7, 8, there are possible orderings.

However, we could also use 5, 5, 8, 8 to fill the gaps, as this will not affect the digit sums
involved in either the divisibility by 9 or 11 rules (since all digits are inserted in even
?
positions), and the last two digits are fixed for the purposes of the 4 rule. There are 6
possible orderings of these digits.
6, 6, 7, 7 is also possible, which by the same reasoning, gives 6 possible orderings.
5, 7, 7, 7 is also possible, which gives 4 orderings.
6, 6, 6, 8 is also possible, which gives 4 orderings.
There are therefore 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 24 = 44 possible numbers divisible by 396.
However, there are total possible ways of using 5, 6, 7 or 8 for each of the four gaps.
The probability is therefore
N BONUS QUESTION
Show that:
is divisible by 6 for all integers .
is divisible by 24 for all integers .
a)

This is the product of three consecutive numbers. One of the three

numbers must be divisible by 3, so the product is divisible by 3.
Similarly, at least one of the three numbers is divisible by 2, so the
b) product is divisible by 2. Therefore, the product is divisible by 6.

?
This is the product of 4 consecutive numbers.
At least one of the four is divisible by 3.
Exactly two of the numbers will be divisible by 2.
However, one of the four numbers will be divisible by 4, giving an
extra factor of 2. Overall, this means the product is divisible by
.
 Fini
(any slides after this are supplementary)
Year 7 Divisibility Within
Equations
STARTER :: Divisibility of Expressions
Given that is an integer, for each expression, identify whether the
statement is always true, always false, or sometimes true.
Always true Always false Sometimes true
is divisible by 5. 
(5 times a number is clearly
in the 5 times table)
?
is divisible by 4. 
?
(This will always be one more
than a multiple of 4)

is divisible by 4. 
?
is divisible by 2. 
?
is divisible by 2.  ?
N is divisible by 2. 
(one of and is even, and
) ?
N is a square 
(The product of two
squares is a square)
?
Factors within equations
What can you tell about the following numbers in these
equations?

?
?

What can you therefore say about in this equation, if and

are integers?

5 𝑥 + 𝟒 𝒚 =150
? by 5, must be.
Since and 150 are divisible

What therefore can you say about ?

4 is not divisible by 5. ?Therefore must be.
Divisibility in Equations Bro Side Note: The posh name for this
is a ‘linear Diophantine equation’. The
‘Diophantine’ bit means we’re only
looking for integer solutions. The
‘linear’ bit means that if we plotted the
Find positive integer solutions to: solutions on some axes, they’d form a
straight line.

One strategy would be to try different values of and see if it works for . e.g. If :

would be 45. But 45 doesn’t divide by 4.

?
Can you think of a more intelligent way?
and 50 are multiples of 5, therefore is a multiple of 5, and therefore is a
multiple of 5. ?
Therefore can only be:

If was 15 then , then would have to be?negative.

If then ? Bro Tip: It’s sometimes convenient to

If then write the solutions as
?
More examples

Find positive integer solutions to:

As and 90 are divisible by 6, needs to be divisible by 6, therefore is divisible

by 6.
? would be greater than 90).
can be 6 or 12 (as next value of is 18, and
Bro Note: What is good about this method is that we have not
If only found all the solutions: we’ve shown there can’t be any
If others. This is very important in maths!

Does the following equation have any integer solutions?

No. The left-hand-side of the equation is odd but the right-hand-side of the
equation is even. ?
Test Your Understanding
Easier One:
[JMC 2010 Q12] Sir Lance has a lot of tables and chairs in his house. Each rectangular table
seats eight people and each round table seats five people. What is the smallest number of
tables he will need to use to seat 35 guests and himself, without any of the seating around
these tables remaining unoccupied?
(Hint: if is the number of rectangular tables, and is number of circular tables, form an equation first that looks like
what we’ve previously seen)
A 4 B 5 C 6 D 7 E 8

is divisible by 4 therefore is. When . So?answer is C

Harder One:
[JMC 2012 Q25] The interior angles of a triangle are ,
and , where are positive integers. What is the value
of ?

must be divisible by 13. 13 is the only possibility.

If . Therefore ?
Exercise 6
3 [JMO 2012 A4] A book costs £3.40 and a
1 Find all positive integer solutions to the magazine costs £1.60. Clara spends
following: exactly £23 on books and magazines.
How many magazines does she buy?
a) ? Solution: 8
?
b) ? 4
[IMC 2001 Q16] The Pythagoras
Patisseries sells triangular cakes at 39p
each and square buns at 23p each. For
c) ? her party, Helen spent exactly £5.12 on
an assortment of these cakes and buns.
d)
? How many items in total did she buy?
A 15 B 16 C 17
D 18 E 19
2 [JMC 2005 Q16] ‘Saturn’ chocolate bars Solution: B
are packed either in boxes of 5 or boxes of ?
12. What is the smallest number of full If is divisible by 3, what can you say
5
boxes required to pack exactly 2005 about?
‘Saturn’ bars? ?
a) ? Divisible by 9
A 118 B 167 C 168 ?
b) ? Divisible by 36

D 170 E 401
c) ? Divisible by 4 ?
Solution: D
c) ? Divisible by 18
?
?
Year 7 Square and cube numbers
Square/Cube Numbers
Find the prime factorisation of the following square numbers. What do you notice?
?
?
?
! Square numbers have even powers in their prime factorisation.

Find the prime factorisation of the following cube numbers. What do you notice?
?
?
?
!Cube numbers have powers which are multiples of 3.
Square/Cube Numbers
Q What is the smallest multiple of 504 that is square?
(Note that )

The power of 3 on the 2 and the power of 1 on the 7 are both odd.
?
So we need to multiply by 2 and 7, i.e. 14, to give 7056.

Check your understanding:

a What do you need to multiply the following by to make the following square and cube?
Square Cube
?
? ?
? ?
Bro Reminder: Factors of will be all
b How many square numbers are factors of ? powers of 2 with a power up to 10.

All even powers of 2 (). But don’t forget that () is square! (as the 0 is even). That’s
6 square factors. ?
Numbers of factors of square numbers
List the factors of the (non-square) number 20.
How many factors are there?

?
1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20 (6 factors)

List the factors of the (square) number 49.

How many factors are there?

1, 7, 49 (3 factors) ?
The number of factors of a square number will always be odd. Can you
explain why this is?
Normally factors come in pairs. e.g. For 20, we have
However, in , the 7 in only counts once,
? so we’ll have an odd number of
factors.

! Square numbers (and only square numbers) have an odd number of factors.
Exercise 7 (on provided sheet)
1 Use the following prime factorisations (if [Junior Kangaroo 2015 Q23] How many three-
6
provided) to find the smallest number we need digit numbers have an odd number of factors?
to multiply the number by to make it (a) a A 5 B 10 C 20 D 21 E 22
square (b) a cube.
(i) (a) 6 (b) 180 ? ?
E (22 squares between 100 and 961)

(ii) (a) 6 (b) 9 ? N1 [Cayley 2013 Q1] What is the smallest non-zero
(ii) 16200
?
(a) 2 (b) 45 multiple of 2, 4, 7 and 8 which is a square?

2 List the cube numbers (in prime factorised

Solution: 784
?
form) that are factors of .
N2 [JMO 2012 B2] Anastasia thinks of a positive
Solution: 1, ? integer, which Barry then doubles. Next, Charlie
trebles Barry's number. Finally, Damion
[IMC 1999 Q16] Three statements: multiplies Charlie's number by six. Eve notices
3
i) is even (ii) is odd (iii) is square that the sum of these four numbers is a perfect
Exactly which ones are true? square. What is the smallest number that
A (i) only B (ii) only C (iii) only Anastasia could have thought of? (Hint: make
D (i) and (iii) only E (ii) and (iii) Anastasia’s number )
?
Solution: E Solution: Numbers are which add up to .
Since , then could be 5 to give which is square.
4 [JMO 2008 A6] How many positive square
numbers are factors of 1600?
?
Thus Anastasia’s number was 5.

?
Solution: 8
How many numbers between 1 and 16 have an
5
odd number of factors?
?
Solution: 4 (the four squares: 1, 4, 9, 16)
Supplementary Slides on Divisibility

“ is divisible by 15”.
Try different values of to see for what values
this is true.
For example, if , then is 20, but 20 is not
divisible by 15.

What property does have when it works?

?
must be divisible by 3.
Thinking in buckets
We can think of the and of as ‘buckets’
“ is divisible by 2” which we can put prime factors in if it is a
factor of the number/expression.

The 3 bucket can’t have the

factor of 2, so it must have
been in the bucket.

3 𝑥 Therefore is divisible by 2.

2
Factors
Click for
Bromanimation
Thinking in buckets

“ is divisible by 3”
The 3 may have come from the
6 bucket (6 is divisible by 3).

But it may or may not have

come from the bucket
(depending on whether is
6 𝑥 divisible by 3)

Because the prime factor of Click for

3 could have just come from Bropossibility 1
3 the 6, we can’t guarantee
anything about the
Factors
divisibility of
Click for
Bropossibility 2
Thinking in buckets
We have a factor of 2 and 3
“ is divisible by 6” to put in the buckets. The 2
must have come from the
bucket, but the 3 could have
come from the ‘3 bucket’. In
such a case, we can
guarantee is divisible by 2.

But the 3 might have also

3 𝑥 been in the bucket. would
be divisible by 6.

There what can we Click for

2 ?3
guarantee about ? Bropossibility 1
It must be divisible by 2,
but we can’t guarantee it
Factors ? by 6
will be divisible
(because of the first case). Click for
Bropossibility 2
Thinking in buckets

“ is divisible by 3”
This one’s more complicated.
The 3 has to go in one of the
buckets. But the two buckets
represent the same number
3 (), so we know both buckets
must have a 3.
𝑥 𝑥 We know therefore:
• is divisible by 3.
• is divisible by 9.

3
Factors
Click for
Bromanimation
Card Sort
Match the statements with the strongest statement they MUST result in.
(By strongest, I mean for example that “is divisible by 8” is stronger than “is divisible by 2” as it is more restrictive)
Some cards may not be used and some orange cards may match multiple green.

is divisible by 5. is divisible by 2.

is divisible by 5. is divisible by 3.

is divisible by 10.
is divisible by 4.

is divisible by 15.
is divisible by 5.

is divisible by 5
is divisible by 6.

is divisible by 4 is divisible by 25.

is divisible by 6 is divisible by 27.

We don’t know
is divisible by 24
anything about
Further Divisibility of Expressions

is divisible by 2. What is the largest number we can say is

divisible by?
Try a few values of first and see.

𝑥 𝑥
2 2
4 𝑥+
2
2 If we add a multiple
of 4 and a multiple
of 2, it will give a
multiple of 2 but
not of 4.

Factors

Answer: 8 ?
More Examples
If is divisible by 3, what can we say about the divisibility of…

a
and are in the 3 times table, but will be two more than a
multiple of 3. ?
So the expression is divisible by .
Test Your Understanding:

b
We get a factor of 3 three times from . is not divisible by 3, but
is even, giving us a factor of 2.?
So the expression is divisible by .
Supplementary Questions (for teacher use)
[JMO Mentoring Jun2011 Q2] How
1 What are the factors of that are both square and 6
many positive divisors does 6! have
cube? Leave your answer in factorised index form. including 6! and 1? [.] Solution: 30
Solution: 1,
? ?
[JMO 1996 B1] How many positive
How many positive factors does have? Solution: 325 whole numbers up to and including 400
2 7
?
A certain number has exactly eight factors including 1
can be written in exactly one way as the
product of two even numbers?
and itself. Two of its factors are 33 and 15. What is Solution: 25 (each product must be of
3 the number? Solution: 165 the form where is prime)
?
[SMC 2003 Q15] The number of this year, 2003, is
?
4 prime. How many square numbers are factors of ?
Solution: 1002

[Kangaroo Pink 2010 Q18] How many integers ,

?
between 1 and 100 inclusive, have the property that
5 is a square number?
A 99 B 55 C 50 D 10 E 5
Solution: B

?
BONUS LESSON! Use #3: Trailing zeroes

Prime Factorisation Number Trailing Zeroes

15 000 3
5600 2
48 400 000 5

Can you think of a rule that tells us the number of trailing zeroes from the prime
factorisation? Why do you think it works?

It is the lowest power of the 2 and 5. This is because each 2-5 pair forms a factor

many pairs we can make.

?
of 10, which puts a 0 on the end of the number. The lower power tells us how
Examples

Q How many zeroes are on the end of ?

80 trailing zeroes.
?

Q 8! is said “8 factorial” and means

How many trailing zeroes does 8! have?

Thus there is only 1 trailing zero.

? Note that seems to give
us a lot more twos than fives, so we only need to count
the number of fives to get that trailing zeroes.

Q Without using your calculator, what is the last non-zero digit

of ?
If we get rid of all the trailing zeroes, the last digit will be
the one we want. We get rid of ? the five 2-5 pairs to leave
. This is 36, so the last non-zero digit is 6.
Test Your Understanding

a How many zeroes are on the end of ?

40 trailing zeroes.
?

b What is the last non-zero digit of ?

Getting rid of trailing zeroes leaves , so last non-zero digit
is 4. ?

N How many zeroes are at the end of 25! (remember that we

only care about the number of 5s in the prime factorisation)
Each multiple of 5 in 25 x 24 x … gives us a prime factor of
5, and there’s 5 of them. However
? 25 gives us an extra 5.
So we have six 5s, and lots of 2s, giving six trailing zeroes.
Exercise 8 (on provided sheet)
1 How many zeroes are at the end of ? 7 [Kangaroo Pink 2012 Q16] What is the last
?
Solution: 31 non-zero digit when is evaluated?
How many zeroes are at the end of ? Solution: 6
2 Solution: 20 ?
[Kangaroo Grey 2004 Q25] The number is
?
What is the last non-zero digit of:
8 the product of the first 100 positive whole
numbers. If all the digits of were written
Solution: 5 out, what digit would be next to all the
3
Solution: 8 ? zeros at the end?
Solution: 2 ? A 2 B 4 C 6
? D 8 E 9
[JMO 2010 A3] Tom correctly works out and Solution: 4
4 writes down his answer in full. How many digits
does he write down in his full answer?
?
[SMC 2001 Q15] Sam correctly calculates
9 the value of . How many digits does her
Solution: 11 answer contain?
?
[IMC 2007 Q7] If the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Solution: 11
5 8, 9, 10 are all multiplied together, how many ?
[Senior Kangaroo 2012 Q1] How many
zeros are at the end of the answer? 10 zeroes are there at the end of the number
Solution: 2 which is the product of the first 2012
?
[IMC 2000 Q18] The number is written out in
full. How many zeroes are there at the end of
prime numbers?
Solution: 1
6
the number?
Solution: 6
?
Find two integers, neither of which has a
11 zero digit, whose product is 1 000 000.
?
?