a) Show that it is possible to pair off the numbers $1,2,3,\ldots ,10$ so that the sums of each of the five pairs are five different prime numbers. b) Is it possible to pair off the numbers $1,2,3,\ldots ,20$ so that the sums of each of the ten pairs are ten different prime numbers?
Problem
Source: Pan African Olympiad 2010
Tags: number theory, prime numbers, number theory proposed
anchenyao
01.10.2011 19:34
Notice that the max sum of a pair is $19$ while the min sum is $3$. Listing out the prime numbers between $3$ and $19$, we have $3,5,7,11,13,17,19$. Then
$3+5+7+11+13+17+19=75$.
If we sum all of the pairs, we have
$1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=55$.
Since all the pairs have distinct prime sums, there are two prime numbers in the list that are not used, and sum to $20$. The possible pairs are $(3,17)$ and $(7,13)$. $17$ and $19$ cannot both be sums, since an $8$ must be present in both of them. Thus, the two prime numbers not used are $3$ and $17$. This yields the solution set
$\{(10,9),(7,6),(8,3),(5,2),(4,1)\}$.
The max sum of a pair is $39$ while the min sum is $3$. Finding all of the prime numbers between $3$ and $39$, we have
$3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37$
Which consists of $11$ prime numbers. Thus, one prime will not be used.
Notice that the sum of the $11$ primes is equal to $195$, while the sum of all the sums is
$1+2+3+4+...+17+18+19+20=210$. $210>195$, so this arrangement is not possible.
Batominovski
02.10.2011 23:36
A similar problem, but less restrictive: Let $n$ be a positive integers. Prove that the set $\{1,2,\ldots,2n\}$ may be partitioned into $n$ pairs such that the sum of elements in each pair is a prime number.