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More Number Theory

This week is my spring break. Luckily my son's school is taking spring break the same week (for the first time ever), so we flew to Florida to visit my parents. I brought The Art and Craft of Problem Solving, by Paul Zeitz, along for fun. Here's my version of a problem I've been playing with. (Modified from 2.2.19 on page 38.)

My favorite candy come in packages of 5 or 6. What's the largest number for which I cannot buy exactly that many candies? Can this be generalized?
I got a result yesterday. I liked its symmetry but couldn't figure out why it worked. I think I have the why down now, but I'm not sure I could explain it well yet. I thought you and your kids might enjoy playing with it.


The beach is fun, too.  :^)


[Edited on April 24: The generalization discussed in the comments involves using two numbers that are relatively prime, ie GCF(A,B)=1. JD blogged 5 years ago about "The McNuggets Puzzle", using 3 numbers, which share some common factors. Cool extension!]

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