Solution:
The answer is (D). We divide the 75 students of each of the two schools into 3 groups, according to the remainder of their number when divided by 3. In particular, in the first school, the students are divided into groups A,B,C according to whether their number is of the form 3k,3k+1 or 3k+2 for some integer k. Similarly in the second school the students are divided among A′,B′,C′.
Each of the groups A,B,C,A′,B′,C′ consists of 25 students, and group A cannot play against group A′, just as B cannot play against B′ and C cannot play against C′.
Suppose that m people from group A play against someone in B′ and the remaining 25−m play against C′. Then m people of B play against the remaining m in C′ and 25−m play against students of A′. Consequently there are m people in C who play against group A′ and the remaining 25−m play against group B′. Once m is fixed, then, we choose m people from A,B,C in (m25)3 ways. Furthermore we choose in how many ways the people in A′ play against the m chosen in C and the 25−m in B in 25! ways and similarly for B′,C′. Varying m, then, the number of possible pairings is
n=(25!)3m=0∑25(m25)3
We note that (m25) is divisible by 5 exactly if m=0 and m=25, hence
(m25)3=2+5h
is not a multiple of 5. The number n therefore has as many factors of 5 as there are in (25!)3, that is 6⋅3=18. We note that in 25! there are at least 6 factors of 2, for example because it includes 16⋅8, and therefore n ends with exactly 18 zeros.