Divisibility is transitive: $\ a\mid b\mid c\,\Rightarrow\ a\mid c$

As the title says, if a number is divisible by a number, is it always divisible by that number's factors?

An example being that $100$ is divisible by $20$, it is also divisible by $10, 5, 4, 2$ as well?

Does this always apply?

Solution 1:

Yes. It is indeed true. The proof also follows immediately. Before looking at the proof, lets us understand what it means to say that $x \in \mathbb{Z}$ divides $y \in \mathbb{Z}$.

We say that $x \in \mathbb{Z}$ divides $y \in \mathbb{Z}$, if there exists $n \in \mathbb{Z}$, such that $ y = x \times n$.

For instance, $6$ divides $-30$, since we have $-5 \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $-30 = 6 \times (-5)$.

Similarly, $27$ divides $108$, since we have $4 \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $108 = 27 \times 4$.

Now lets prove your claim.

Claim: If $a$ divides $b$ and $b$ divides $c$, then $a$ divides $c$, where $a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}$.

Proof:

Since $a$ divides $b$, we have $n_1 \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $b = a \times n_1$.

Similarly, since $b$ divides $c$, we have $n_2 \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $c = b \times n_2$.

Making use of the fact that $b = a \times n_1$ in the above equation, we get that $$c = \underbrace{(a \times n_1) \times n_2 = a \times (n_1 \times n_2)}_{\text{By associativity of multiplication}} = a \times n$$ where $n = n_1 \times n_2 \in \mathbb{Z}$.

Hence, $a$ divides $c$.

Solution 2:

Yes, suppose $n$ is divisible by $m$, and $m$ is divisible by $k$. This means $n=m\ell$ and $m=kj$, all integers. Then $n=m\ell=(kj)\ell$, so $k\mid n$ by the definition of divisibility.