Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:
Prove that there exists a number divisible by 510005^{1000} with no zero digit.

Solution

Solution:
We first find a multiple of 510005^{1000} which has no zeros in the last 10001000 digits. Suppose that we have a multiple n51000n \cdot 5^{1000} whose last zero is in place rr (treating the last place as place 00, the next to last as place 11 and so on). Then n(10r+1)n(10^{r} + 1) has the same digits in places 00 to r1r-1 and a nonzero digit in place rr, and hence no zeros in places 00 to rr. So repeating, we find a multiple n51000n \cdot 5^{1000} with no zeros in the last 10001000 digits.

Now let mm be the remainder when nn is divided by 210002^{1000}, so n=k21000+mn = k \cdot 2^{1000} + m, and hence m51000=n51000k101000m \cdot 5^{1000} = n \cdot 5^{1000} - k \cdot 10^{1000}. So m51000m \cdot 5^{1000} has the same last 10001000 digits as n51000n \cdot 5^{1000}. But it has less than 10011001 digits, and hence it has exactly 10001000 digits and no zeros.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.