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Number theory Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Find the answer

32 Given the pair of positive integers (a,b)(a, b) satisfies: the number aabba^{a} \cdot b^{b} in decimal notation ends with exactly 98 zeros. Find the minimum value of aba b.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

32. Let the prime factorization of aa and bb have the powers of 22 and 55 as α1\alpha_{1}, β1\beta_{1} and α2\alpha_{2}, β2\beta_{2}, respectively, then
{aα1+bα298aβ1+bβ298\left\{\begin{array}{l} a \cdot \alpha_{1} + b \cdot \alpha_{2} \geqslant 98 \\ a \cdot \beta_{1} + b \cdot \beta_{2} \geqslant 98 \end{array}\right.

and one of (1) and (2) must be an equality.
If (2) is an equality, i.e., aβ1+bβ2=98a \cdot \beta_{1} + b \cdot \beta_{2} = 98, then when β1\beta_{1} and β2\beta_{2} are both positive integers, the left side is a multiple of 5. When β1\beta_{1} or β2\beta_{2} is zero, the other must be greater than zero, in which case the left side is still a multiple of 5, leading to a contradiction. Therefore, (1) must be an equality.

From aα1+bα2=98a \cdot \alpha_{1} + b \cdot \alpha_{2} = 98, if α1\alpha_{1} or α2\alpha_{2} is zero, without loss of generality, let α2=0\alpha_{2} = 0, then α1>0\alpha_{1} > 0. In this case, aα1=98a \cdot \alpha_{1} = 98. If α12\alpha_{1} \geqslant 2, then 4a4 \mid a, which is a contradiction. Hence, α1=1\alpha_{1} = 1, and thus a=98a = 98. Substituting a=98a = 98 into (2), we know β1=0\beta_{1} = 0, so bβ2>98b \cdot \beta_{2} > 98. Combining α2=0\alpha_{2} = 0, we find that the minimum value of bb is 75.

If α1\alpha_{1} and α2\alpha_{2} are both positive integers, without loss of generality, let α1α2\alpha_{1} \geqslant \alpha_{2}. If α22\alpha_{2} \geqslant 2, then 4a4 \mid a and 4b4 \mid b, leading to 4984 \mid 98, which is a contradiction. Hence, α2=1\alpha_{2} = 1. Further, if α1=1\alpha_{1} = 1, then a+b=98a + b = 98, but a2\frac{a}{2} and b2\frac{b}{2} are both odd, so a2+b2\frac{a}{2} + \frac{b}{2} is even, which is a contradiction. Therefore, α1>1\alpha_{1} > 1. In this case, if β1\beta_{1} and β2\beta_{2} are both positive integers, then 5a5 \mid a and 5b5 \mid b, which contradicts aα1+bα2=98a \cdot \alpha_{1} + b \cdot \alpha_{2} = 98. Hence, one of β1\beta_{1} and β2\beta_{2} must be zero. If β1=0\beta_{1} = 0, then from (2) we know bβ2>98b \cdot \beta_{2} > 98, in which case the number of trailing zeros in bbb^b is greater than 98 (since, in this case, 10b10 \mid b. When β2=1\beta_{2} = 1, b100b \geqslant 100, so 10100bb10^{100} \mid b^b. When β22\beta_{2} \geqslant 2, 50b50 \mid b, if b>50b > 50, then 10100bb10^{100} \mid b^b; if b=50b = 50, then aα1=48a \cdot \alpha_{1} = 48, in which case when α14\alpha_{1} \geqslant 4, 25aα12^5 \mid a \cdot \alpha_{1}, and when α13\alpha_{1} \leqslant 3, 24aα12^4 \nmid a \cdot \alpha_{1}, both leading to a contradiction, so the number of trailing zeros in bbb^b is greater than 98).

Similarly, if β2=0\beta_{2} = 0, then aβ1>98a \cdot \beta_{1} > 98, and similarly, the number of trailing zeros in aaa^a is greater than 98, which is a contradiction. In summary, the minimum value of abab is 7350 (when (a,b)=(98,75)(a, b) = (98, 75) or (75,98)(75, 98)).

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.