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Number theory Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Consider the arithmetic sequence 8,21,34,47,8, 21, 34, 47, \ldots.

a) Prove that this sequence contains infinitely many integers written only with digit 99.

b) How many such integers less than 201020102010^{2010} are in the sequence?

Solution

(a) We are looking for integers mm such that
10m1=13n+8 for some positive integer n 10^{m}-1=13 n+8 \text{ for some positive integer } n
The last relation is equivalent to 10m90(mod13)10^{m}-9 \equiv 0 \pmod{13}.
We will prove that ord13(10)=6\operatorname{ord}_{13}(10)=6, that is, the smallest positive integer ss such that 10s1(mod13)10^{s} \equiv 1 \pmod{13} is s=6s=6. Indeed, we have
106=(133)636=(33)2=(26+1)21(mod 13). 10^{6}=(13-3)^{6} \equiv 3^{6}=(3^{3})^{2}=(26+1)^{2} \equiv 1 \quad (\bmod\ 13).
Moreover, 1029(mod13)10^{2} \equiv 9 \pmod{13} and 1031(mod13)10^{3} \equiv -1 \pmod{13}, hence
ord13(10)=6. \operatorname{ord}_{13}(10)=6.
From the previous property, it follows that for any integer k0k \geq 0, we have 106k1(mod13)10^{6k} \equiv 1 \pmod{13}. Therefore,
106k+2=106k1029(mod 13), 10^{6k+2}=10^{6k} \cdot 10^{2} \equiv 9 \quad (\bmod\ 13),
hence the integers
106k+21=9996k+2, k=0,1,, 10^{6k+2}-1=\underbrace{99\ldots 9}_{6k+2},\ k=0,1,\ldots,
belong to the sequence, and all integers in the sequence containing only digit 99 are of this form.

(b) It is clear that we have to find the greatest integer kk such that 106k+21<2010201010^{6k+2}-1<2010^{2010}, that is 106k+21<106k+2<2010201010^{6k+2}-1<10^{6k+2}<2010^{2010}. It follows 6k+2<2010log20106k+2<2010 \log 2010, hence
3k+1<1005log20110=1005+1005log201=1005+2010+1005log(2+1100)=3015+1005log(2+1100) \begin{gathered} 3k+1<1005 \log 201 \cdot 10=1005+1005 \log 201 \\ =1005+2010+1005 \log \left(2+\frac{1}{100}\right) \\ =3015+1005 \log \left(2+\frac{1}{100}\right) \end{gathered}
hence
k=1004+[23+335log(2+1100)]=1105. k=1004+\left[\frac{2}{3}+335 \log \left(2+\frac{1}{100}\right)\right]=1105.
The desired number is 11061106.

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