A number n! is written in base 6 and base 8 notation. Its base 6…

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A number n! is written in base 6 and base 8 notation. Its base 6 representation ends with 10 zeroes. Its base 8 representation ends with 7 zeroes. Find the smallest n that satisfies these conditions. Also find the number of values of n that will satisfy these conditions.

  1. A.

    22 and 4

  2. B.

    32 and 2

  3. C.

    24 and 3

  4. D.

    25 and 4

Attempted by 46 students.

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Correct answer: C

Interpretation: trailing zeros in base 6 mean n! is divisible by 6^10 = 2^10·3^10 (exactly 10 zeros means divisible by 6^10 but not by 6^11). Trailing zeros in base 8 mean n! is divisible by 8^7 = 2^21 (exactly 7 zeros means divisible by 2^21 but not by 2^24).

  • Find exponent of 3 in n!: v3(n!) = floor(n/3) + floor(n/9) + floor(n/27) + ...

  • Smallest n with v3(n!) ≥ 10: test n = 24 gives floor(24/3)+floor(24/9)=8+2=10, so 24! has exactly 3^10. For n = 25 and 26 v3 remains 10; at 27 v3 jumps higher. Thus the n with v3 = 10 are 24, 25, 26.

  • Find exponent of 2 in n!: v2(n!) = floor(n/2)+floor(n/4)+floor(n/8)+floor(n/16)+ ...

  • We need 21 ≤ v2(n!) < 24 so n! is divisible by 2^21 but not by 2^24. Compute v2 for the candidate n values: v2(24)=12+6+3+1=22, v2(25)=22, v2(26)=13+6+3+1=23. All three lie between 21 and 23 inclusive, so each of 24, 25, 26 satisfies the base-8 condition exactly.

Conclusion: the smallest n is 24, and there are 3 values of n that satisfy both conditions (n = 24, 25, 26).

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