Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Canada

Problem:
Show that there exists a positive integer NN such that for all integers a>Na > N, there exists a contiguous substring of the decimal expansion of aa that is divisible by 20112011. (For instance, if a=153204a = 153204, then 1515, 532532, and 00 are all contiguous substrings of aa. Note that 00 is divisible by 20112011.)

Solution

Solution:
We claim that if the decimal expansion of aa has at least 20122012 digits, then aa contains the required substring. Let the decimal expansion of aa be akak1a0a_{k} a_{k-1} \ldots a_{0}. For i=0,,2011i = 0, \ldots, 2011, let bib_{i} be the number with decimal expansion aiai1a0a_{i} a_{i-1} \ldots a_{0}. Then by the pigeonhole principle, bibj(mod2011)b_{i} \equiv b_{j} \pmod{2011} for some i<j2011i < j \leq 2011. It follows that 20112011 divides bjbi=c10ib_{j} - b_{i} = c \cdot 10^{i}. Here cc is the substring ajai+1a_{j} \ldots a_{i+1}. Since 20112011 and 1010 are relatively prime, it follows that 20112011 divides cc.

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