Suppose P is the product of k consecutive integers, where k \geq 1.
Then, k! divides P .
Proof 1 -
Let P be the product of k consecutive integers from n+1 up to n+k, so that we have:
P = (n+1)(n+2)...(n+k) = \frac{(n+k)!}{n!}
Now, we know that the power of any prime p in k! is given by the following finite sum:
\sum\limits_{m \geq 1}^{}{\left\lfloor \frac{k}{p^m} \right\rfloor}
Therefore, the power of any prime p in the product P is given by:
\sum\limits_{m \geq 1}^{}{\left\lfloor \frac{n+k}{p^m} \right\rfloor}
- \sum\limits_{m \geq 1}^{}{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{p^m} \right\rfloor} Since \forall p,q,r \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}: \left\lfloor \frac{p+q}{r} \right\rfloor \geq \left\lfloor \frac{p}{r} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{q}{r} \right\rfloor , we must have:
Thus, we see that, for every prime p, the power of p in k! never exceeds the power of p in the product P. Hence, k! always divides the product P.
Proof 2 -
Let P be the product of k consecutive integers from n+1 up to n+k. So, we have:
\begin{aligned} \hspace{4cm} P & = (n+1)(n+2)...(n+k) \\ & = \frac{(n+k)!}{n!} \\ & = k! \frac{(n+k)!}{n!k!} \\ & = k! \binom{n+k}{k} \end{aligned}
Let P be the product of k consecutive integers from n+1 up to n+k. So, we have:
\begin{aligned} \hspace{4cm} P & = (n+1)(n+2)...(n+k) \\ & = \frac{(n+k)!}{n!} \\ & = k! \frac{(n+k)!}{n!k!} \\ & = k! \binom{n+k}{k} \end{aligned}
Now, the binomial co-efficient \binom{n+k}{k}, being the number of ways in which one can choose k items out of a total of n+k distinct items, is known to be integral. Hence, k! must divide the product P.
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