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2005 AMC 10A Problem 15

Problem 15 of 25IntermediateNumber TheoryCounting & Probability

How many positive cubes divide 3!5!7!?3! \cdot 5! \cdot 7!?

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Solution

As a product of primes, 3!5!7!=2834527.3! \cdot 5! \cdot 7! = 2^8 \cdot 3^4 \cdot 5^2 \cdot 7. A cube divisor uses exponents that are multiples of 3:3: the exponent of 22 can be 0,0, 3,3, or 66 (33 choices), the exponent of 33 can be 00 or 33 (22 choices), and the exponents of 55 and 77 must be 0.0. That gives 3211=63 \cdot 2 \cdot 1 \cdot 1 = 6 cubes. Thus, the correct answer is E.

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Concepts: prime factorization · factor counting · factorial

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.