GMAT Practice Question: For every even positive integer m, f(m) represents the product of all even integers from 2 to...
Question
For every even positive integer m, f(m) represents the product of all even integers from 2 to m, inclusive. For example, f(12)=2 \times 4 \times 6 \times 8 \times 10 \times 12. What is the greatest prime factor of f(24) ?
- 23
- 19
- 17
- 13
- 11
Topics: number theory, prime factorization, odds/evens
Solution
Step 1
We factor each even term from 2 to 24 as 2 times an integer, then collect the powers of 2 and the remaining product.
f(24) = 2\times4\times6\times8\times10\times12\times14\times16\times18\times20\times22\times24 =2^{12}\times(1\times2\times3\times4\times5\times6\times7\times8\times9\times10\times11\times12) =2^{12}\times12!
Step 2
We break down 12! into prime powers to find its highest prime factor.
12! = 2^{10}\times3^{5}\times5^{2}\times7\times11 \text{The greatest prime factor is }11
Answer
11
