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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Argentina

A number is said to be an almost palindrome if it is possible to place a nonzero digit to its left so a palindrome is obtained, that is, a number that reads the same from left to right as from right to left. For instance, 20232023 is an almost palindrome, because we can place the digit 33 to its left to obtain the number 3202332023, which is a palindrome. How many six-digit numbers are almost palindromes and multiples of 99?

Solution

A six-digit almost palindrome can be written as abcbadabcbad, where a,d0a, d \neq 0. This number is a multiple of 99 if and only if the sum a+b+c+b+a+da + b + c + b + a + d is a multiple of 99. Notice that if the values of a,ba, b and cc are fixed, then the remainder of dd when divided by 99 is determined. We know that dd can be any digit from 11 to 99. Since those digits have different remainders when divided by 99, and every possible remainder is attained by one of those digits, then no matter how we choose a,ba, b and cc, there is always exactly one possible value for dd that makes abcbadabcbad a multiple of 99. Finally, since aa can be any digit between 11 and 99 and bb and cc can be any digit between 00 and 99, there are exactly 9×10×10=9009 \times 10 \times 10 = 900 six-digit almost palindrome numbers divisible by 99.

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