English

If a prime divides a product

History and Overview 2010-12-30 v1

Abstract

One of the greatest difficulties encountered by all in their first proof intensive class is subtly assuming an unproven fact in a proof. The purpose of this note is to describe a specific instance where this can occur, namely in results related to unique factorization and the concept of the greatest common divisor.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1012.5866,
  title  = {If a prime divides a product},
  author = {Steven J. Miller and Cesar E. Silva},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1012.5866},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

We thank Jared Hallet, for asking a good question in Silva's analysis class at Williams College, which led to this work

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:05:03.727Z