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Number theory Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

For each positive integer nn denote xnx_n the number of the positive integers with nn digits, divisible with 44, formed with digits 22, 00, 11 or 66.

a) Compute x1x_1, x2x_2, x3x_3 and x4x_4.

b) Find nn so that
1+x2x1+x3x2+x4x3++xn+1xn=2016. 1 + \left\lfloor \frac{x_2}{x_1} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{x_3}{x_2} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{x_4}{x_3} \right\rfloor + \dots + \left\lfloor \frac{x_{n+1}}{x_n} \right\rfloor = 2016.

Solution

a) x1=1x_1 = 1 (0 is divisible with 44), x2=4x_2 = 4 (the numbers 1212, 1616, 2020 and 6060 are divisible with 44), x3=35x_3 = 3 \cdot 5, (because the first digit cannot be 00 and the last two can be 1212, 1616, 2020, 6060 and 0000), x4=345=60x_4 = 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 = 60 (because the first digit cannot be 00, for the second digit there are 44 possibilities and the last two digits can be 1212, 1616, 2020, 6060 and 0000).

b) If n3n \ge 3, then a number AA which fulfills the hypothesis is of the form
A=a1a2an2pq, A = \overline{a_1 a_2 \dots a_{n-2} p q},
where its first digit can have three values, each of the digits a2a_2, a3a_3, \dots, an2a_{n-2} can be chosen in 44 ways and the last two digits can be 1212, 1616, 2020, 6060 or 0000. So xn=34n35x_n = 3 \cdot 4^{n-3} \cdot 5, for every n3n \ge 3.
For n3n \ge 3, xn+1xn=4\frac{x_{n+1}}{x_n} = 4, whence 1+x2x1+x3x2+x4x3++xn+1xn=1+4+3+4(n2)1 + \left\lfloor \frac{x_2}{x_1} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{x_3}{x_2} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{x_4}{x_3} \right\rfloor + \dots + \left\lfloor \frac{x_{n+1}}{x_n} \right\rfloor = 1 + 4 + 3 + 4(n-2), 4n=20164n = 2016, n=504n = 504.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.