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2010 AMC 12A Problem 23

Problem 23 of 25HarderNumber Theory

The number obtained from the last two nonzero digits of 90!90! is equal to n.n. What is n?n?

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Solution

The number of trailing zeroes in 90!90! is 905+9025=21.\left\lfloor\dfrac{90}{5}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\dfrac{90}{25}\right\rfloor=21. Let N=90!1021.N=\dfrac{90!}{10^{21}}. There are still more than two factors of 22 left after removing 1021,10^{21}, so N0(mod4).N\equiv0 \pmod4. Let AA be the product of factors of 90!90! not divisible by 5,5, and let BB be the product of the factors divisible by 5.5. Each block (5j+1)(5j+2)(5j+3)(5j+4)(5j+1)(5j+2)(5j+3)(5j+4) is 241(mod25),24\equiv-1\pmod{25}, and there are 1818 blocks, so A1(mod25).A\equiv1\pmod{25}. After removing the 2121 factors of 55 from B,B, the remaining factors can be grouped as B521=(1234)(6789)(11121314)(161718)(123)1(mod25). \begin{aligned} \dfrac{B}{5^{21}}={}&(1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4) \\ &\cdot(6\cdot7\cdot8\cdot9) \\ &\cdot(11\cdot12\cdot13\cdot14) \\ &\cdot(16\cdot17\cdot18)(1\cdot2\cdot3) \\ &\equiv-1\pmod{25}. \end{aligned} Therefore 90!5211(mod25).\dfrac{90!}{5^{21}}\equiv-1\pmod{25}. Since 2212(mod25)2^{21}\equiv2\pmod{25} and the inverse of 22 modulo 2525 is 13,13, we get N1312(mod25).N\equiv-13\equiv12\pmod{25}. The number congruent to 0(mod4)0\pmod4 and 12(mod25)12\pmod{25} is 12(mod100),12\pmod{100}, so the last two nonzero digits form 12.12. Thus, A is the correct answer.

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Concepts: modular arithmetic · Chinese Remainder Theorem · trailing zeros

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