Smallest number that is evenly divisible by all of the numbers from 1 to 20?
The smallest number that is divisible by two numbers is the LCM of those two numbers. Actually, the smallest number divisible by a set of N numbers x1..xN is the LCM of those numbers. It is easy to compute the LCM of two numbers (see the wikipedia article), and you can extend to N numbers by exploiting the fact that
LCM(x0,x1,x2) = LCM(x0,LCM(x1,x2))
Note: Beware of overflows.
Code (in Python):
def gcd(a,b):
return gcd(b,a%b) if b else a
def lcm(a,b):
return a/gcd(a,b)*b
print reduce(lcm,range(2,21))
Factor all the integers from 1 to 20 into their prime factorizations. For example, factor 18 as 18 = 3^2 * 2. Now, for each prime number p
that appears in the prime factorization of some integer in the range 1 to 20, find the maximum exponent that it has among all those prime factorizations. For example, the prime 3
will have exponent 2
because it appears in the factorization of 18 as 3^2 and if it appeared in any prime factorization with an exponent of 3 (i.e., 3^3), that number would have to be at least as large as 3^3 = 27 which it outside of the range 1 to 20. Now collect all of these primes with their corresponding exponent and you have the answer.
So, as example, let's find the smallest number evenly divisible by all the numbers from 1 to 4.
2 = 2^1
3 = 3^1
4 = 2^2
The primes that appear are 2
and 3
. We note that the maximum exponent of 2
is 2
and the maximum exponent of 3
is 1
. Thus, the smallest number that is evenly divisible by all the numbers from 1 to 4 is 2^2 * 3 = 12.
Here's a relatively straightforward implementation.
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
std::vector<int> GetPrimes(int);
std::vector<int> Factor(int, const std::vector<int> &);
int main() {
int n;
std::cout << "Enter an integer: ";
std::cin >> n;
std::vector<int> primes = GetPrimes(n);
std::vector<int> exponents(primes.size(), 0);
for(int i = 2; i <= n; i++) {
std::vector<int> factors = Factor(i, primes);
for(int i = 0; i < exponents.size(); i++) {
if(factors[i] > exponents[i]) exponents[i] = factors[i];
}
}
int p = 1;
for(int i = 0; i < primes.size(); i++) {
for(int j = 0; j < exponents[i]; j++) {
p *= primes[i];
}
}
std::cout << "Answer: " << p << std::endl;
}
std::vector<int> GetPrimes(int max) {
bool *isPrime = new bool[max + 1];
for(int i = 0; i <= max; i++) {
isPrime[i] = true;
}
isPrime[0] = isPrime[1] = false;
int p = 2;
while(p <= max) {
if(isPrime[p]) {
for(int j = 2; p * j <= max; j++) {
isPrime[p * j] = false;
}
}
p++;
}
std::vector<int> primes;
for(int i = 0; i <= max; i++) {
if(isPrime[i]) primes.push_back(i);
}
delete []isPrime;
return primes;
}
std::vector<int> Factor(int n, const std::vector<int> &primes) {
std::vector<int> exponents(primes.size(), 0);
while(n > 1) {
for(int i = 0; i < primes.size(); i++) {
if(n % primes[i] == 0) {
exponents[i]++;
n /= primes[i];
break;
}
}
}
return exponents;
}
Sample output:
Enter an integer: 20
Answer: 232792560
There is a faster way to answer the problem, using number theory. Other answers contain indications how to do this. This answer is only about a better way to write the if
condition in your original code.
If you only want to replace the long condition, you can express it more nicely in a for loop:
if ((num%2) == 0 && (num%3) == 0 && (num%4) == 0 && (num%5) == 0 && (num%6) == 0
&& (num%7) == 0 && (num%8) == 0 && (num%9) == 0 && (num%10) == 0 && (num%11) == 0 && (num%12) ==0
&& (num%13) == 0 && (num%14) == 0 && (num%15) == 0 && (num%16) == 0 && (num%17) == 0 && (num%18)==0
&& (num%19) == 0 && (num%20) == 0)
{ ... }
becomes:
{
int divisor;
for (divisor=2; divisor<=20; divisor++)
if (num%divisor != 0)
break;
if (divisor != 21)
{ ...}
}
The style is not great but I think this is what you were looking for.