MathCastle
Groups and FieldsHardGroups and the Group Axioms

Groups and the Group Axioms · Hard problem

On S={1,2,…,10}S=\{1,2,\ldots,10\} consider a∗b=lcm⁡(a,b)a*b=\operatorname{lcm}(a,b). It is not a binary operation on SS, because some outputs leave SS. For how many of the 100100 ordered pairs (a,b)∈S×S(a,b)\in S\times S does a∗ba*b stay in SS?