A composite number is a number that has two or more prime factors. The number 87 can be expressed as the sum of two composite numbers in many ways. What is the minimum positive difference between two such numbers?
86+ 1no
85 + 2 no
84 + 3no
83 + 4 no
82 + 5 no
81 + 6 = 3*3*3*3 + 6*2
and diff = 5
42+ 45= 2*21 + 5*9
diff =3
typo in my earlier response
81 + 6 = 3*3*3*3 + 6*2
and diff = 81 - 6 = 75
Yeah
To find the minimum positive difference between two composite numbers that add up to 87, we can start by listing the composite numbers.
A composite number is any positive integer greater than 1 that is not prime. Let's list some composite numbers between 1 and 87:
4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86
Now, we need to find two composite numbers from this list that add up to 87. We could brute-force our way through the list, but let's try a more systematic approach.
One way to find composite numbers that add up to 87 is by starting with the largest possible composite number and subtracting it from 87. This way, we would get the smallest possible difference.
From the list, we can see that 86 is a composite number. Subtracting it from 87, we get:
87 - 86 = 1
So, the difference between two composite numbers that add up to 87 is 1.
Therefore, the minimum positive difference between two composite numbers that add up to 87 is 1.