Challenge Yourself

Some of the questions (e.g. Questions 4 and 5) are not easy for average students while others (e.g. Question 2)
should be manageable if teachers guide them as follows:

Question 2: The figure consists of 3 identical squares but students are to divide it into 4 identical parts. Teachers
can guide students by asking them to find the LCM of 3 and 4, which is 12. Thus students have to divide the
figure into 12 equal parts before trying to regroup 3 equal parts to form each of the 4 identical parts.

Questions 4 and 5: Teachers can get students to try different numerical examples before looking for a pattern
in order to generalise. In both questions, it is important that students know whether m and n are co-primes,
m
i.e. HCF(m, n) = 1. If m and n are not co-primes, they can be built from the ‘basic block’ of HCF(m, n) and
n
HCF(m, n) , which are co-primes.
1 2
WORKED SOLUTIONS Investigation (Sieve of Eratosthenes)
Investigation (Classification of Whole Numbers) 1.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Number Working Factors 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1 1 is divisible by 1 only. 1 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
2 2=1× 2 1, 2
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
3 3=1× 3 1, 3
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
4 4=1× 4=2× 1, 2, 4
2 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
1, 5
5 5=1× 5 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
1, 2, 3, 6
6 6=1× 6=2× 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
3 1, 7
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90
7 7=1× 7 1, 2, 4, 8
8 8=1× 8=2× 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
1, 3, 9
4
9 9=1× 9=3×
3
10 10 = 1 × 10 = 2 × 5 1, 2, 5, 10 2. (a) The smallest prime number is 2.
11 11 = 1 × 11 1, 11 (b) The largest prime number less than or equal to 100 is 97.
12 12 = 1 × 12 = 2 × 6 = 3 × 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 (c) There are 25 prime numbers which are less than or equal to 100.
4 (d) No, not every odd number is a prime number, e.g. the number
1, 13
13 13 = 1 × 13 9 is an odd number but it is a composite number.
1, 2, 7, 14 (e) No, not every even number is a composite number, e.g. the
14 14 = 1 × 14 = 2 × 7
1, 3, 5, 15 number 0 is an even number but it is neither a prime nor a
15 15 = 1 × 15 = 3 × 5 composite number.
1, 2, 4, 8, 16
16 16 = 1 × 16 = 2 × 8 = 4 × (f) For a number greater than 5, if its last digit is 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8, then
4 1, 17 the number is a multiple of 2, thus it is a composite number; if
17 17 = 1 × 17 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18 its last digit is 0 or 5, then the number is a multiple of 5, thus it
18 18 = 1 × 18 = 2 × 9 = 3 × is a composite number. Hence, for a prime number greater
1, 19
6 than
1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20 5, its last digit can only be 1, 3, 7 or 9.
19 19 = 1 × 19
20 20 = 1 × 20 = 2 × 10 = 4
× 5
Table 1.1 Journal Writing (Page 6)
2. Group A: 1
1. Yes, the product of two prime numbers can be an odd number, e.g.
Group B: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 the product of the two prime numbers 3 and 5 is the odd number 15.
Group C: 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20 2. Yes, the product of two prime numbers can be an even number,
3. 0 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, … e.g. the product of the two prime numbers 2 and 3 is the even number
0 has an infinite number of factors. 6.
3. No, the product of two prime numbers P1 and P2 cannot be a prime
Thin number since P1P2 has at least 3 distinct factors, i.e. 1, P1 and P1
king Time (Page 5)
P2.

1. A prime number is a whole number that has exactly 2 different 2. No, I do not agree with Michael. Consider the numbers 0 and 1.
factors, 1 and itself. They are neither prime numbers nor composite numbers.
A composite number is a whole number that has more than 2 different
factors. A composite number has a finite number of factors.
Since 0 has an infinite number of factors, it is neither a prime nor a
composite number.
Since 1 has exactly 1 factor, it is also neither a prime nor a composite
number.
Investigation (Interesting Facts about Prime Numbers) Thinking Time (Page 9)
th
The 1 000 000 prime number is 15 485 863. The index notation is useful for writing complicated and repetitive
The last digit of the largest known prime number is 1. expressions in a more compact form, e.g. we can write
8
3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 as 3 .

3 1