Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

number theory senior

Problem

For how many is the base- number a multiple of ?
Solution
This is true if and only if is a multiple of . Whether or not this is true depends only on modulo . First note that the polynomial is congruent to modulo , which has as a root. Factoring, we get Next we check each residue modulo , i.e. we check this for . Since is not a multiple of when is not congruent to modulo , we need only check the quartic factor. When , we get , which is not a multiple of . When , we get , which is not a multiple of . When , we get which is not a multiple of . When , we get , which is again not a multiple of . Finally, when , we get , which is again not a multiple of . Thus the only possible are those congruent to modulo , and furthermore note that since is a digit. Thus the possible values of are for , so there are possible values.
Final answer
14