Prove that the product of two consecutive positive integers is divisible by 2.
To Prove: that the product of two consecutive integers is divisible by 2.
Proof: Let n − 1 and n be two consecutive positive integers.
Then their product is n (n − 1) = n2 − n
We know that every positive integer is of the form 2q or 2q + 1 for some integer q.
So let n = 2q
So, n2 − n = (2q)2 − (2q)
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=(2 q)^{2}-2 q$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=4 q^{2}-2 q$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=2 q(2 q-1)$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=2 r($ where $r=q(2 q-1))$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n$ is even and divisble by 2
Let n = 2q + 1
So, n2 − n = (2q + 1)2 − (2q + 1)
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=(2 q+1)((2 q+1)-1)$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=(2 q+1)(2 q)$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n=2 r(r=q(2 q+1))$
$\Rightarrow n^{2}-n$ is even and divisble by 2
Hence it is proved that that the product of two consecutive integers is divisible by 2