MathDB
moves i sequences, replace a,b by their gcd and lcm

Source: 1999 Swedish Mathematical Competition p6

April 2, 2021
number theoryleast common multiplegreatest common divisorLCMGCD

Problem Statement

SS is any sequence of at least 33 positive integers. A move is to take any a,ba, b in the sequence such that neither divides the other and replace them by gcd (a,b)(a,b) and lcm (a,b)(a,b). Show that only finitely many moves are possible and that the final result is independent of the moves made, except possibly for order.