Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2008

Number theory Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it Ukraine

We know that at some natural nn the number n2+2008nn^2 + 2008n written in decimal notation ends with 4. Find what digit is in the ten's place of the number.

Solution

It's clear that the number 2000n2000n does not influence the answer, which implies that the sought digits will be the same for numbers A=n2+2008nA = n^2 + 2008n and B=n2+8n2B = n^2 + 8n^2. As number (B+16)(B+16) equals (n+4)2(n+4)^2 (being the square of the natural number) and ends in 00, this number should end in 0000. Thus B=X0016=Y84B = \overline{X00}-16 = \overline{Y84} where X,YX, Y are some natural numbers. Therefore the last two digits of the number are 8484.

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