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jmc

number theory intermediate

Problem

How many zeroes does end with, when is written in base 9?
Solution
Let be written in base 9 as , where , and let be the number of zeroes at the end of the base 9 expansion of . This means that divides without yielding a remainder, because , and every other term on the left-hand side is divisible by . However, since is nonzero, does not divide . Therefore, we need to find the highest power of that divides without remainder. We can prime factorize by prime factorizing each integer between 2 and 10. The exponent of 3 in the prime factorization of is 4, since 3 and 6 each contribute one factor of 3 while 9 contributes two. Therefore, divides while does not. As a result, when is written in base 9, it ends in zeroes.
Final answer
2