A number theory problem by mostafa hubble

1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! + + n ! \large 1! +2! +3!+\ldots +n!

How many positive integer n n are there such that the expression above is a perfect square?


The answer is 2.

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1 solution

Gerardo Hernandez
Jul 17, 2015

Note that 1! and 1!+2!+3! are perfect squares. Then, we will focus on the last digit for n ! n! .

1 ! 1 ( m o d 10 ) 1! \equiv 1 (mod 10)

2 ! 2 ( m o d 10 ) 2! \equiv 2 (mod 10)

3 ! 6 ( m o d 10 ) 3! \equiv 6 (mod 10)

4 ! 4 ( m o d 10 ) 4! \equiv 4 (mod 10)

For n 5 n \ge 5 , we have that n ! 0 ( m o d 10 ) n! \equiv 0 (mod 10) . So, 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! + 4 ! + . . . + n ! 3 ( m o d 10 ) 1! + 2! + 3! + 4! + ... + n! \equiv 3 (mod 10) for n 5 n \ge 5 . Since the last digits of a perfect square are always 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, the expression will not be a perfect square if n 4 n\ge 4 . Thus, answer is 2 ( n = 1 n = 1 , n = 3 n=3 ).

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