Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

These problems are harder than those in Place Value and Fusing Dots, but they
require the same kind of ideas. 1
1. Emphatic Countdown. Find the decimal representation of (10/9!) · 8! · 7! −
6! · 5!/4! + 3! · 2! + 1!.
q
2. Evaluate the expression −1 64
. It describes my behavior in late November.

3. Cross out 10 digits from the number N = 1234512345123451234512345 so that

what remains is as large as possible.
4. Find all integers n for which the sum of the digits is 11 and the product of the
digits is 24.
5. For each positive integer n, let G(n) denote the product of the five consecutive
integers beginning at n. For example G(1) = 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 = 120. Let R(n)
denote the rightmost nonzero digit of n when n is written in decimal notation.
For example R(G(1)) = R(120) = 2.
(a) Find the smallest n for which R(G(n)) is an odd number.
(b) Find the smallest n for which R(G(n)) is 5.
(c) Find the smallest n for which R(G(n)) is the digit 9.
(d) Find the smallest n for which R(G(n)) is the digit 7.
6. What are the largest and the smallest five-digit numbers the product of whose
digits is 2520?
7. What is the value of the base 3 repeating decimal 0.123 expressed as a base-ten
common fraction?
8. The product of two three-digit numbers abc and cba is 396396, where c < a.
Find the value of abc.
9. Multiplicative Palindromes Notice that 69 × 64 = 46 × 96. Its also true that
3516 × 8274 = 4728 × 6153, and 992 · 483 · 156 = 651 · 384 · 299. What we want
to explore here is does the first equation hold for any other pairs of numbers.
See the problem on multiplicative palindromes.
10. Suppose a, b and c are three different decimal digits. Then there are six differ-
ent three digit numbers that can be built using all of the three digits. Suppose
the difference between the largest such number and the smallest such number
is one of the six numbers. What are the three digits?
1
Unauthorized reproduction/photocopying prohibited by law’ c

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

11. The product of the number 7 and the six-digit number abcdef is the six-digit
number 6 · def abc. What is the number abcdef ?

12. Great Numbers. Call a nine-digit number great if it consists of nine different
nonzero digits. It is possible that two great numbers can have a great sum.
In fact, it is even possible that two great numbers can both have a great sum
and also be identical in seven places. Find two such numbers.

13. Finding the unknown digit.

6 0.
Let N = abcde denote the five digit number with digits a, b, c, d, e and a =
0 0
Let N = edcba denote the reverse of N . Suppose that N > N and that
N − N 0 = 670x3 where x is a digit. What is x?

14. Recall also that the remainder when a decimal integer is divided by 9 is the
same as the remainder when the sum of its digits is divided by 9. For example
1234 = 9k + 1 since 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 = 9 + 1.
Let a1 = 1 and for each n ≥ 1, define an+1 as follows:

an+1 = n + 1 + an · 101+blog(n+1)c .

Let’s work out the first few values of the sequence. For example,

a2 = 2 + a1 · 101+blog(n+1)c
= 2 + 1 · 101+blog(2)c
= 2 + 1 · 101+0
= 2 + 1 · 10 = 12

and a3 is

a3 = 3 + a2 · 101+blog(2+1)c
= 3 + 12 · 101+blog(3)c
= 3 + 12 · 101+0
= 3 + 12 · 10 = 3 + 120 = 123.

Using the definition, we can show that a4 = 1234, etc. This definition is said
to be recursive. Recursion is a popular topic in discrete mathematics. We’ll
see later that the Principle of Mathematical Induction is an important tool in
reasoning about recursively defined sequences.

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

(a) How many digits does a2008 have?

(b) Find the smallest n such that an has at least 2008 digits.
(c) What is S(a2008 )?
(d) How many 1’s are in the representation of a2008 ?
(e) How many 0’s are in the representation of a2008 ?
(f) Find the first 5 multiples of 9 among the an .
(g) Find the remainder when a2008 is divided by 9.
(h) What is the smallest n such that an is a multiple of 99?

15. Let b1 = 1 and for each n ≥ 1, define bn+1 as follows:

2
bn+1 = (n + 1)2 + bn · 101+blog(n+1) c .

Let’s work out the first few values of the sequence. The function log refers to
the common logarithm, ie. log10 . For example,
2c
b2 = 22 + b1 · 101+blog(n+1)
= 4 + 1 · 101+blog(4)c
= 4 + 1 · 101+0
= 4 + 1 · 10 = 14

and b3 is
2
b3 = 32 + b2 · 101+blog(2+1) c
= 9 + 14 · 101+blog(9)c
= 9 + 14 · 101+0
= 9 + 14 · 10 = 9 + 140 = 149.

(a) Using the definition and the fact that b3 = 149, show that b4 = 14916.
(b) How many digits does b9 have?
(c) How many digits does b200 have?
(d) Find the smallest n such that bn has at least 2000 digits.
(e) Find the first four multiples of 9 among the bn .
(f) Find the remainder when b200 is divided by 9.

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

16. Define another sequence tn as follows:

tn = an /101+blog an c .

Thus t1 = 0.1, t2 = 0.12 and t3 = 123/101+blog 123c = 123/1000 = 0.123. Let

a = limn→∞ tn . In other words, a = 0.1234567891011 . . .. Prove that a is
irrational by showing that there is no repeating block of digits.

17. The other number is defined in the same way, except that we use the sequence
bn . Thus, b = 0.149162536496481100121 . . .. This number is also irrational.

18. The third sequence of interest is cn . The first few members are c1 = 1, c2 = 13,
and c3 = 135. This sequence is obtained by appending to each cn the decimal
representation of the n + 1st odd positive integer. Thus, for example, c12 =
1357911131517192123.

(a) Use the ideas in the first two problems to define the sequence without
using the word ’append’. IE, multiply the number by enough to create
some zeros at the right end and then add to this an integer.
(b) How many digits does each of the following numbers have?
i. c10
ii. c100
iii. c1000
(c) How many times does the digit 1 appear in each of the numbers below?
look at the three answers below. Can you generalize?
i. c10
ii. c100
iii. c1000
(d) Which of the following numbers are multiples of 9? How many of the
first 100 cn ’s are multiples of 9?
i. c9
ii. c99
iii. c999

19. The fourth sequence of interest is dn . The first few members are d1 = 2,
d2 = 24, and d3 = 246. This sequence is obtained by appending to each dn the
decimal representation of the n + 1st even positive integer. Thus, for example,
d12 = 24681012141618202224.

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

(a) Use the ideas in the first three problems to define the sequence without
using the word ‘append’. IE, multiply the number by just enough to
create some zeros at the right end and then add to this an integer. dn =
dn−1 · 10blog(2n)c+1 + 2n.
(b) How many digits does each of the following numbers have?
i. d10
ii. d100
iii. d1000
(c) How many times does the digit 1 appear in each of the numbers below?
look at the three answers below. Can you generalize?
i. d10
ii. d100
iii. d1000
(d) How many of the first 1000 dn ’s are multiples of k where
i. k =3
ii. k =6
iii. k =8
iv. k =9
v. k = 11
vi. k = 37
20. What is the mean of the list L of nine numbers?
L = (9, 99, 999, 9999, . . . , 999999999)

21. Consider the set of single digit prime numbers, S = {2, 3, 5, 7}. For each
nonempty subset D of S, let P (D) denote the product of the members of D.
There are 15 such nonempty subsets, A1 , A2 , A3 , . . . , A15 . What is the sum of
the 15 numbers P (A1 ) + P (A2 ) + · · · + P (A15 )?
22. What is the smallest n such that 1/n has a decimal that repeats in blocks of
5.
23. A positive integer equals 11 times the sum of its digits. What is the this
number?
24. It is surprising that each of the following infinite decimals is actually a repeat-
ing decimal. Find the pair of integers whose ratio is the given decimal.

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

(a) 0.001002004008016032064 . . .
(b) 0.0101020305081321 . . .
25. Find a five digit positive integer in which all the digits are different and are in
increasing order from left to right. The number is a multiple of four and its
square is a ten-digit number.
26. Find a three digit positive integer in which all the digits are different and are
in increasing order from left to right which has a square satisfying the same
increasing digit condition.
27. Is it possible to write the numbers 1, 2, . . . , 10 in a list so that each pair of adja-
cent numbers differ by either 3 or 5? (As an example, the list: 1, 4, 7, 10, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9, 2
would not suffice since 9 and 2 differ by 7.)
28. Consider the equation
    
N N 2N
+ N − 10 10blog10 N c = .
10 10 3
Show that N = 5294117647058823 is a solution and find all the other positive
integer solutions.
29. The integers from 1 to 999 are written on the board. What is the smallest
number of these integers that can be wiped off so that the product of the
remaining integers ends in 8?
30. Find the sum of all 5-digit numbers that use only the digits 1, 2, 8, 9 when
repetition is allowed. Also, what is the sum of all four-digit numbers that can
be built if repetition is not allowed.
31. For positive integer n let an be the integer consisting of n digits of 9 followed
by the digits 488. For example, a3 = 999, 488 and a7 = 9, 999, 999, 488. Find
the value of n so that an is divisible by the highest power of 2.
32. Find the least three-digit number that is equal to the sum of its digits plus
twice the product of its digits.
33. Define the function f by
f (x) = hx/10i · 100 + bx/10c.
Compute
99
X
f (k).
k=10

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

34. The digits of S = 22008 are written from left to right followed by the digits
of T = 52008 . How many digits are written altogether? We can build some
notation to simplify the solution and to help us think about the problem. Let
x||y denote the concatenation of integers x and y. Thus 24 ||52 = 16||25 =
1625.

35. Let N = 7 + 77 + 707 + 7007 · · · + (7 · 1030 + 7). When N is written in decimal

(base 10) notation, what is the sum of the digits of N ?

36. The number 229 contains nine digits, all of them distinct. Which one is miss-
ing?

37. A faulty car odometer proceeds from digit 3 to digit 5 , always skipping the
digit 4, regardless of position. For example, after traveling one mile the odome-
ter changed from 000039 to 000050. If the odometer now reads 002005, how
many miles has the car actually traveled?

38. You’re allowed to perform two operations with numbers. You can either add
1 to the number you have or you can double it. Starting with 0, what is the
fewest operations you can perform to get 100?

39. You’re allowed to perform three operations with numbers. You can either add
1 or 2 to the number you have or you can triple it. Starting with 0, what is
the fewest operations you can perform to get 100?

40. A faulty car odometer proceeds from digit 3 to digit 5, always skipping the digit
4, regardless of position. For example, after traveling one mile the odometer
changed from 000039 to 000050. If the odometer now reads 002005, how many
miles has the car actually traveled?

41. Let a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h be distinct elements in the set

{−7, −5, −3, −2, 2, 4, 6, 13}.

What is the minimum possible value of

(a + b + c + d)2 + (e + f + g + h)2 ?

42. Let x and y be two-digit integers such that y is obtained by reversing the digits
of x. The integers x and y satisfy x2 − y 2 = m2 for some positive integer m.
What is x + y + m?

43. Find all three digit numbers abc such that abc2 ends in the three digits abc.
Of course abc2 means (100a + 10b + c)2 .

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

44. Joy writes down a nine-digit positive integer by first selecting a three-digit
positive integer N , then writing N, N + 1, and N + 2 in that order. What is
the smallest such number that is a multiple of 37? What is the largest such
number that is a multiple of 37?

45. Let x and b be positive integers. Suppose that x is represented as 324 in base
b, and x is represented as 155 in base b + 2. What is b?

46. The product of the digits of Ashley’s age is the same nonzero number as it
was six years ago. In how many years will it be the same again?

47. Define the sequence a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . by

 
i 1
− 10 × 10i−1 × 1/13 , for i = 1, 2, . . . .
 
ai = 10 ×
13

What is the largest value of any ai ?

48. The product of the digits of a four-digit number is 810. If none of the digits
are repeated, what is the sum of the digits?

49. Prove that any number of the form 111 . . . 1222 . . . 2 with the same number of
1’s and 2’s is the product of two consecutive integers.

50. What is the tenth digit to the right of the point in the decimal representation
of 1/98?

51. Each power of 11 (11, 121, 1331, 14641, . . . has one more digit than the previous
power until we get to 26. There turns out to be no power of eleven that is 26
digits long. Which is the next failing count of digits?

52. In the list of numbers 1, 2, . . . , 9999, the digits 0 through 9 are replaced with
the letters A through J, respectively. For example, the number 501 is replaced
by the string ‘FAB’ and 8243 is replaced by the string ‘ICED’. The resulting
list of 9999 strings is sorted alphabetically. How many strings appear before
‘CHAI’ in this list?

53. The integer n is the smallest positive multiple of 15 such that every digit of n
n
is either 8 or 0. Compute 15 .

54. What is the largest even integer that cannot be written as the sum of two odd
composite numbers?

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

55. The increasing sequence 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13 · · · consists of all those positive
integers which are powers of 3 or sums of distinct powers of 3. Find the 100th
term of this sequence.

56. In a parlor game, the magician asks one of the participants to think of a three
digit number (abc) where a, b, and c represent digits in base 10 in the order
indicated. The magician then asks this person to form the numbers (acb),
(bca), (bac), (cab), and (cba), to add these five numbers, and to reveal their
sum, N . If told the value of N , the magician can identify the original number,
(abc). Play the role of the magician and determine the (abc) if N = 3194.

57. An ordered pair (m, n) of non-negative integers is called ”simple” if the addi-
tion m + n in base 10 requires no carrying. Find the number of simple ordered
pairs of non-negative integers that sum to 1492.

58. Find the largest possible value of k for which 311 is expressible as the sum of
k consecutive positive integers.

59. Find the smallest positive integer whose cube ends in 888.

60. Suppose n is a positive integer and d is a single digit in base 10. Find n if
n
810
= 0.d25d25d25 . . .

61. For how many pairs of consecutive integers in {1000, 1001, 1002, . . . , 2000} is
no carrying required when the two integers are added?

62. Given a positive integer n , let p(n) be the product of the non-zero digits of
n . (If n has only one non-zero digit, then p(n) is equal to that digit.) Let
S = p(1) + p(2) + p(3) + · · · + p(999). What is the largest prime factor of S ?

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

63. It is possible to place the nine digits on the boxes so that the arithmetic is
satisfied. The operations are assumed to take place left to right and top to
bottom. For example, 5 + 4 ÷ 3 = 3.

• • • • • •

× − = 3
• • • • • •

× − −
• • • • • •

+ ÷ = 3
• • • • • •

− × +
• • • • • •

− + = 3
• • • • • •

= = =
3 3 3

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Exotic Arithmetic,Summer 2019 Digital Delirium

64. Determine the positive integer n such that each of the digits 0, 1, 2, . . . , 9 occurs
exactly once in either n3 or n4 , but not in both, i.e. if a digit is used in n3 ,
then it is not used in n4 and vice versa.

65. Consider the integer N = 142857. If you multiply N by 5, you get 714285,
which is N with all but he rightmost digit shifted right and the rightmost digit
switched to the left end. Let’s call this a right shift. If instead, you multiply
N be 3, you get 428571, which is N with all digits except the leftmost shifted
to the left and the leftmost digit moved to the right end. Call this a left shift.

(a) Find all positive integers for which multiplying by 2 is the same as a right
shift.
(b) Find all positive integers for which multiplying by 2 is the same as a left
shift.
(c) Find all positive integers for which multiplying by 3 is the same as a right
shift.
(d) Find all positive integers for which multiplying by 3 is the same as a left
shift.

66. If 135k divides 2007! and 135k+1 does not, what is the value of k?

67. Let a, b, c, d be positive real numbers with a < b < c < d. Given that a, b, c, d
are the first four terms in an arithmetic sequence, and a, b, d are the first three
terms in a geometric sequence, what is the value of adbc
?

68. Let S denote the list of positive integers whose digit sum S(N ) is 9, written
in order of value. Thus S = {9, 18, 27, 36, . . . , }. What number is the 2020th
in the list.

69. Several sets of prime numbers, such as {7, 83, 421, 659} use each of the nine
nonzero digits exactly once. What is the smallest possible sum such a set of
primes could have?

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