Number Properties: Tips and hints

!	This post is a part of the Quant Tips and Hints by Topic Directory focusing on Quant topics and providing examples of how to approach them. Most of the questions are above average difficulty.

EVEN/ODD
1. An even number is an integer that is "evenly divisible" by 2, i.e., divisible by 2 without a remainder.
2. An odd number is an integer that is not evenly divisible by 2.
3. According to the above both negative and positive integers can be even or odd.

ZERO:
1. 0 is an integer.
2. 0 is an even integer. An even number is an integer that is "evenly divisible" by 2, i.e., divisible by 2 without a remainder and as zero is evenly divisible by 2 then it must be even.
3. 0 is neither positive nor negative integer (the only one of this kind).
4. 0 is divisible by EVERY integer except 0 itself, (or, which is the same, zero is a multiple of every integer).

PRIME NUMBERS:
1. 1 is not a prime, since it only has one divisor, namely 1.
2. Only positive numbers can be primes.
3. There are infinitely many prime numbers.
4. the only even prime number is 2. Also 2 is the smallest prime.
5. All prime numbers except 2 and 5 end in 1, 3, 7 or 9.

PERFECT SQUARES
1. The number of distinct factors of a perfect square is ALWAYS ODD. The reverse is also true: if a number has the odd number of distinct factors then it's a perfect square;
2. The sum of distinct factors of a perfect square is ALWAYS ODD. The reverse is NOT always true: a number may have the odd sum of its distinct factors and not be a perfect square. For example: 2, 8, 18 or 50;
3. A perfect square ALWAYS has an ODD number of Odd-factors, and EVEN number of Even-factors. The reverse is also true: if a number has an ODD number of Odd-factors, and EVEN number of Even-factors then it's a perfect square. For example: odd factors of 36 are 1, 3 and 9 (3 odd factor) and even factors are 2, 4, 6, 12, 18 and 36 (6 even factors);
4. Perfect square always has even powers of its prime factors. The reverse is also true: if a number has even powers of its prime factors then it's a perfect square. For example: \(36=2^2*3^2\), powers of prime factors 2 and 3 are even.

IRRATIONAL NUMBERS
1. An irrational number is any real number that cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers.
2. The square root of any positive integer is either an integer or an irrational number. So, \(\sqrt{x}=\sqrt{integer}\) cannot be a fraction, for example it cannot equal to 1/2, 3/7, 19/2, ... It MUST be an integer (0, 1, 2, 3, ...) or irrational number (for example \(\sqrt{2}\), \(\sqrt{3}\), \(\sqrt{17}\), ...).



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