Is My Mathematical Discovery Truly Original?

  • Context: Undergrad 
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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on an individual's claim of discovering a mathematical theorem stating that if the absolute value of a minus b equals one, then the least common multiple (LCM) of a and b equals the product of a and b. However, it is established that this statement is not original, as it reflects the known property of LCM for consecutive integers, where the greatest common divisor (GCD) is one. The formula for LCM, lcm(a,b) = ab/gcd(a,b), confirms this conclusion. The participant is encouraged to continue exploring mathematical concepts for potential new discoveries.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as absolute value and least common multiple (LCM).
  • Familiarity with the greatest common divisor (GCD) and its role in LCM calculations.
  • Knowledge of mathematical notation and terminology, including the use of theorems and postulates.
  • Basic programming skills for implementing mathematical proofs through coding.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the properties of least common multiples and greatest common divisors in number theory.
  • Explore mathematical proofs related to LCM and GCD using examples of consecutive integers.
  • Learn about mathematical discovery processes and how to validate original findings.
  • Investigate programming languages and tools for mathematical modeling and proof verification.
USEFUL FOR

Mathematicians, students of mathematics, and anyone interested in number theory and mathematical proofs will benefit from this discussion.

enkrypt0r
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Well, last summer I had a lot of time on my hands, and I would stay up late just randomly playing with math and numbers to kill time. After playing around with them long enough, I seem to have come up with a theorem/axiom/postulate (I don't know the terminology). I never really thought that I had come up with anything new until I had a look at my notebook today, and started Googling. Perhaps I wasn't trying the right keywords, but I can't find anything like this online. Now that I think about it, I seem to remember writing a program to prove this true, and it ended up working. I've since reformatted that computer (installed my mom's new OS).

Anyways, it's not really a big deal or anything, and I doubt it's really useful, but:"If the absolute value of a minus b is equal to one, then the least common multiple of a and b is equal to ab."

or

If |a-b| = 1 Then LCM(a,b) = abI'm sure something like this is already in existence, but I can't seem to find it... Can anybody else?
 
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I'm afraid what you've come up with isn't new-- your statement says that the least common multiple of two consecutive integers is their product. You can see this by looking at the formula for the least common multiple of two numbers [tex]lcm(a,b)=\frac{ab}{gcd(a,b)}[/tex]. Since a and b are consecutive, gcd(a,b)=1, which yields the result.

Still, carry on playing around on your notebook and one day you'll discover something new!
 

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