Message Forum: Re: Poa Help

Re: Poa Help

Posted By: Don the Monkeyman, on host 24.79.11.37
Date: Sunday, January 20, 2002, at 13:28:04
In Reply To: Poa Help posted by Rebecca on Sunday, January 20, 2002, at 06:53:03:

> need help solvng the king's dlemma. I know about 7,11,13,5. I don't understand how to do this at all,its very confusing. I would appreciate a reply from somebody who would explain this in a way so that I would understand what I can do to solve this.

OK, I have been watching this for a while, and I think I can maybe help, but it takes some math to do it. If I use any terms here that you're not familiar with, post a reply to me, and I'll try to explain them.

I'm going to call the number you want "x". We know that x has four digits, as well as several other things about it. We know that:
(x-5)/7 is a whole number.
(x-5)/11 is a whole number.
(x-5)/13 is a whole number.
x/5 is a whole number.

Now, when you divide a number by another number, and get a whole number, that means you have found one of the factors of the number. The factors of 6, for example, are 1, 2, 3, and 6. Divide 6 by any of these and you get a whole number.

With the King's Dilemma, you don't know much about the factors of x, except that 5 is a factor of x. You do know some of the factors of (x-5), though: 7, 11, 13, and 5. (5 is a factor because if x/5 is a whole number, then (x-5)/5 is also a whole number, equal to (x/5)-1.)

Did you ever work with factor trees? Factor trees are a way to find all the prime factors of a number, which are all the prime numbers which, when multiplied together, make the number. The prime factors of 6, for example, are 2 and 3. (1 is by definition not prime, and 6 is not prime.) The prime factors of 24 are 2, 2, 2, and 3, because a prime factor can be used more than once in a factor tree. Anyway, 5, 7, 11, and 13 are all prime numbers, and since they are all factors of (x-5), they must be prime factors. That should be enough information to tell you a way to calculate a particular value for (x-5). However, you might need to include more prime factors to make (x-5) big enough so that x has four digits.

If you're not good at math, most of that was probably gibberish to you. If you are good at math, you can probably get it from here. I hope it helped...

Don Monkey

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Message:	> > need help solvng the king's dlemma. I know about 7,11,13,5. I don't understand how to do this at all,its very confusing. I would appreciate a reply from somebody who would explain this in a way so that I would understand what I can do to solve this. > > OK, I have been watching this for a while, and I think I can maybe help, but it takes some math to do it. If I use any terms here that you're not familiar with, post a reply to me, and I'll try to explain them. > > I'm going to call the number you want "x". We know that x has four digits, as well as several other things about it. We know that: > (x-5)/7 is a whole number. > (x-5)/11 is a whole number. > (x-5)/13 is a whole number. > x/5 is a whole number. > > Now, when you divide a number by another number, and get a whole number, that means you have found one of the factors of the number. The factors of 6, for example, are 1, 2, 3, and 6. Divide 6 by any of these and you get a whole number. > > With the King's Dilemma, you don't know much about the factors of x, except that 5 is a factor of x. You do know some of the factors of (x-5), though: 7, 11, 13, and 5. (5 is a factor because if x/5 is a whole number, then (x-5)/5 is also a whole number, equal to (x/5)-1.) > > Did you ever work with factor trees? Factor trees are a way to find all the prime factors of a number, which are all the prime numbers which, when multiplied together, make the number. The prime factors of 6, for example, are 2 and 3. (1 is by definition not prime, and 6 is not prime.) The prime factors of 24 are 2, 2, 2, and 3, because a prime factor can be used more than once in a factor tree. Anyway, 5, 7, 11, and 13 are all prime numbers, and since they are all factors of (x-5), they must be prime factors. That should be enough information to tell you a way to calculate a particular value for (x-5). However, you might need to include more prime factors to make (x-5) big enough so that x has four digits. > > If you're not good at math, most of that was probably gibberish to you. If you are good at math, you can probably get it from here. I hope it helped... > > Don Monkey
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