Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 99 of 400 #1099 of 1964

Problem 1099

National olympiad, first round
Number theory Difficulty 6.1 Prove it

Natural number (where each aia_{i} represents an Arabic numeral): First write a1a_{1}, then write a2,a3,a_{2}, a_{3}, \cdots, 1,2,,19991,2, \cdots, 1999 according to the rule. If a 2000-digit natural number written according to the above rule has the digits aia_{i}, where the digits 1, 9, 8, 7 all appear. Prove that the 2000-digit natural number written must be a composite number.
(China Beijing High School Grade 1 Mathematics Competition, 1987)

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

Official solution

Among two-digit numbers, the multiples of 17 are
17,34,51,68,85 17,34,51,68,85 \text {; }
the multiples of 23 are
23,46,69,92 23,46,69,92 \text {. }

In the above 9 numbers, the units digits include 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,91,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. In the tens place, 6 appears twice, 7 does not appear, and the other digits 1,2,3,4,5,8,91,2,3,4,5,8,9 each appear once.

Obviously, 7 cannot be in the tens place, meaning 7 cannot appear in the first 1999 digits of the two-thousand-digit number, so 7 must be the last digit of this two-thousand-digit number.

Thus, the digit before 7 should be 1 (since 17 is a multiple of 17), and before that, there should be a 5 (since 51 is a multiple of 17), and so on, forming the following diagram:
This means that when a certain digit appears, the next digit will be the one indicated by the arrow in the diagram.
Clearly, in the two-thousand-digit number a1a2a1999a2000a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{1999} a_{2000},
a2000=7,a1999=1,a1998=5,a1997=8,a1996=6, a_{2000}=7, \quad a_{1999}=1, \quad a_{1998}=5, \quad a_{1997}=8, \quad a_{1996}=6,

Starting from the 1996th position, the first 1996 digits, from a1a1996=6a_{1} \rightarrow a_{1996}=6, cycle through 69234696 \rightarrow 9 \rightarrow 2 \rightarrow 3 \rightarrow 4 \rightarrow 6 \rightarrow 9 \rightarrow \cdots, with each cycle consisting of five numbers.
Therefore, the sum of all the digits in this two-thousand-digit number is
(6+9+2+3+4)399+(6+8+5+1+7)=24399+27=3(8399+9). \begin{aligned} & (6+9+2+3+4) \cdot 399+(6+8+5+1+7) \\ = & 24 \cdot 399+27 \\ = & 3 \cdot(8 \cdot 399+9) . \end{aligned}

Thus, this two-thousand-digit number is a multiple of 3, and therefore a composite number.

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