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Exercise 1831Number theory › PrimesOlympiadAdded 3 Nov 2026

Bertrand's postulate (statement and examples)

#Bertrand#primes#interval

Statement

State Bertrand's postulate and verify it for n=10n=10.

Hint

The postulate: for every n>1n>1, there is a prime pp with n<p<2nn<p<2n.

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Solution

Postulate. For every integer n>1n>1, there exists a prime pp such that n<p<2nn<p<2n.

Verify for n=10n=10: primes in ]10,20[]10,20[: 11,13,17,1911,13,17,19. At least one exists.

Verify for n=100n=100: primes in ]100,200[]100,200[: 101,103,107,109,113,…101,103,107,109,113,\ldots

Conclusion. Bertrand's postulate (Chebyshev's theorem) holds; it is a nontrivial result usually proved by elementary estimates on binomial coefficients.