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2022 AMC 10B Problem 6

Problem 6 of 25EasierAlgebraNumber Theory

How many of the first ten numbers of the sequence 121,11211,1112111,121, 11211, 1112111, \ldots are prime numbers?

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Solution

We claim that none of these numbers can ever be prime. We prove this claim by noticing that the nnth number is k=02n10k+10n=k=0n10k+\sum_{k=0}^{2n} 10^k + 10^n = \sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k + k=n2n10k=k=0n10k+k=0n10k10n \sum_{k=n}^{2n} 10^k =\sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k + \sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k \cdot 10^n =(10n+1)(k=0n10k).= (10^n+1)(\sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k). This shows that the number can be written as the product of two numbers greater than 1,1, so there are no primes. Thus, the answer is A .

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Concepts: prime · factoring

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