Hello and welcome to the "Magic of Mathematics" channel.
My name is Manohar Moorthy and you are watching one amongst a series of videos exploring
the world of Mathematics.
In this video, I will show you how to find the least perfect square that is exactly divisible
by a set of numbers.
For this, I will take an example; say, we have been asked to find the least perfect square
that is exactly divisible by the numbers 6, 9, 12 and 15.
I will begin by observing that the least perfect square that is exactly divisible by a set of numbers
can not be lesser than the least number that is exactly divisible by the given numbers.
And we know that the least number that is exactly divisible by a set of numbers is the
lowest common multiple or LCM of the given numbers.
Hence, I will find the LCM of the given numbers first and see if it is a perfect square;
if it happens to be a perfect square we have the least perfect square that is exactly divisible
by the given numbers and if not, I will use the LCM as a base or starting point for finding
the number that I am looking for.
For finding the LCM, I will prime factorise each of the given numbers.
6 will prime factorise as 2 times 3, nine prime factorises as 3 times 3, 12 as 2 times 2 times 3
and 15 as 3 times 5.
For each factor in our prime factorisations, that is 2, 3 and 5, I will identify its occurrences
in the prime factorisation where it occurs the maximum number of times.
2 occurs maximum number of times here, 3 here and 5 here.
Now, I can find the LCM by computing the product of the identified occurrences of the factors
or in other words, the LCM of the given numbers is 2 times 2 times 3 times 3 times 5.
It is clear that if I compute this product of prime factors, I will get the LCM of the
given numbers.
I will now examine this product to see whether the LCM is a perfect square.
For this, I will use the fact that if a number is a perfect square, its prime factorisation
can be grouped into pairs of identical factors.
Examining the prime factorisation of the LCM, we can see that we have a pair of 2's and
a pair of 3's.
However, there is only one 5 and hence we can't form a pair of 5's.
Hence, this product which corresponds to the LCM of the given numbers is not a perfect square.
This means that the least perfect square that we are looking for has to be greater
than the LCM.
But since it also has to be exactly divisible by the given numbers, or in other words, since
it is a common multiple of the given numbers, it has to be a multiple of the LCM.
Hence, I will examine successive multiples of the LCM to see whether they are perfect squares
and once I get a perfect square, I will stop since I would have obtained the
least perfect square that is exactly divisible by the given numbers.
I will begin with the least non-trivial multiple of the LCM, namely twice the LCM.
Its prime factorisation can be obtained by multiplying the prime factorisation of the LCM by 2.
As we can see, now in addition to the 5, there is a 2 which is not paired up.
So, we still don't have a perfect square.
The next multiple of the LCM, namely 3 times the LCM has an unpaired 3 in addition to the
unpaired 5.
So, this will also not work.
The next multiple of the LCM, namely 4 times the LCM has 2 additional 2's in its prime factorisation
and these two form a pair but we still have an unpaired 5.
So, this will also not work.
The next multiple of the LCM, namely 5 times the LCM finally supplies the 5 required for
the 5's to pair up.
We now have a product which will give us the least perfect square that is exactly divisible
by the given numbers.
If we compute this product, we get 900 as our answer.
Or in other words, 900 is the least perfect square which is exactly divisible by the given numbers
A closer look at what I did gives the method which can be used for solving such problems.
Basically, we obtain the prime factorisation of the LCM of the given numbers and form pairs
of identical factors as shown to see whether the LCM is a perfect square.
In case nothing gets left out in the pairing process, the LCM is a perfect square and we
have the least perfect square which is exactly divisible by the given numbers.
In case something gets left out as in this case where the factor 5 got left out, we supply
what is required for perfect pairing - an additional 5 in this case takes care of the pairing
so that we obtain the least perfect square that is exactly divisible by the given numbers.
In this video, I showed you how to find the least perfect square which is exactly divisible
by a given set of numbers.
If you found this video useful, I would appreciate a like.
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