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2021 Fall AMC 12A Problem 10

Problem 10 of 25EasierNumber Theory

The base-nine representation of the number NN is 27,006,000,0529.27{,}006{,}000{,}052_9. What is the remainder when NN is divided by 5?5?

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Solution

Since 91(mod5),9 \equiv -1 \pmod 5, each power 9k(1)k,9^k \equiv (-1)^k, so NN is congruent to the alternating sum of its base-nine digits. The nonzero digits, with their positions from the right, are 22 (position 00), 55 (position 11), 66 (position 66), 77 (position 99), and 22 (position 1010). The alternating sum is 25+67+2=22 - 5 + 6 - 7 + 2 = -2 3(mod5).\equiv 3 \pmod 5. Thus, the correct answer is D.

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Concepts: modular arithmetic · number base

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