“The product of two consecutive positive integers is divisible by 2”. Is this statement true or false? Give reasons.

+1 vote
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asked Nov 26, 2017 in Mathematics by Golu (37,045 points) 19 172 616

“The product of two consecutive positive integers is divisible by 2”. Is this statement true or false? Give reasons.

1 Answer

+2 votes
answered Nov 26, 2017 by Ankit Agarwal (28,847 points) 7 34 104
selected Nov 26, 2017 by sarthaks
 
Best answer

Solution:
True.
Justification:
Let a, a + 1 be two consecutive positive integers.
By Euclid’s division lemma, we have
a = bq + r, where 0 ≤ r < b
For b = 2 , we have
a = 2q + r, where 0 ≤ r < 2 ...(i)
Putting r = 0 in (i), we get
a = 2q, which is divisible by 2.
a + 1 = 2q + 1, which is not divisible by 2.
Putting r = 1 in (i), we get
a = 2q + 1, which is not divisible by 2.
a + 1 = 2q + 2, which is divisible by 2.
Thus for 0 ≤ r < 2, one out of every two consecutive integers is divisible by 2.
Hence, The product of two consecutive positive integers is divisible by 2.

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