Number theoryDifficulty 6.8National olympiadProve itSaudi Arabia
Consider the arithmetic sequence 8,21,34,47,….
a) Prove that this sequence contains infinitely many integers written only with digit 9.
b) How many such integers less than 20102010 are in the sequence?
Solution
(a) We are looking for integers m such that 10m−1=13n+8 for some positive integer n The last relation is equivalent to 10m−9≡0(mod13). We will prove that ord13(10)=6, that is, the smallest positive integer s such that 10s≡1(mod13) is s=6. Indeed, we have 106=(13−3)6≡36=(33)2=(26+1)2≡1(mod13). Moreover, 102≡9(mod13) and 103≡−1(mod13), hence ord13(10)=6. From the previous property, it follows that for any integer k≥0, we have 106k≡1(mod13). Therefore, 106k+2=106k⋅102≡9(mod13), hence the integers 106k+2−1=6k+299…9,k=0,1,…, belong to the sequence, and all integers in the sequence containing only digit 9 are of this form.
(b) It is clear that we have to find the greatest integer k such that 106k+2−1<20102010, that is 106k+2−1<106k+2<20102010. It follows 6k+2<2010log2010, hence 3k+1<1005log201⋅10=1005+1005log201=1005+2010+1005log(2+1001)=3015+1005log(2+1001) hence k=1004+[32+335log(2+1001)]=1105. The desired number is 1106.
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