- Day 1
- Number theory
- Proof
There are integers greater than written on a blackboard, not necessarily different. In a move, Confucius chooses two integers and from different places on the blackboard and replaces these two integers with
He continues to make moves while it is possible to do so.
(a) Prove that, regardless of the choices of Confucius, after finitely many moves, exactly one integer on the blackboard is greater than .
(b) Prove that the value of does not depend on the choices of Confucius.
(Note that denotes the greatest common divisor of positive integers and , and denotes the least common multiple of and .)