Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 258 of 400 #858 of 2000

Problem 858

AIME late
Combinatorics Difficulty 5.6 Prove it

4. When raising the number 4 to different powers, Sasha obtained three numbers, all of which had three different digits. Without calculating the results, Andrey noticed that Sasha had made a mistake. What was his basis for this?

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, read the official solution, then mark yourself honestly — the ladder only means something if the record is true.

Official solution

4. Powers of the number 4 can end either in 6 or 4, therefore three powers cannot have three different unit digits.

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