A variation of divisibility rule of 3?

Four true facts:

123456789 123456789 is divisible by 3.
12345 + 6789 12345+6789 is divisible by 3.
123 + 456 + 789 123+456+789 is divisible by 3.
12 + 3456 + 78 + 9 12+3456+78+9 is divisible by 3.

True or False?

No matter where and how many + + signs you put in between the digits of the number 123456789, the resulting number is still divisible by 3.

True False

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10 solutions

Tommy Li
Nov 22, 2017

Note that 10 1 ( m o d 3 ) 10 \equiv 1 \pmod{3} and consider

N = 1 × 1 0 a + 2 × 1 0 b + 3 × 1 0 c + + 9 × 1 0 i N = 1\times 10^a+2\times10^b+3\times10^c+ \cdots + 9\times 10^i where a , b , c , , i a,b,c,\cdots ,i are arbitrary positive integers and N N satisfy the requirement of the problem

N 1 × 1 + 2 × 1 + 3 × 1 + + 9 × 1 0 ( m o d 3 ) N \equiv 1\times1+ 2\times1 + 3\times1 + \cdots +9\times1 \equiv 0 \pmod{3}

We proved N N is divisible by 3 and then the statement below is true

In the 4th line, I think you meant + 9 × 1 + 9\times 1 instead of 10 × 1 10\times 1 .

Anuj Shikarkhane - 3 years, 6 months ago

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Yes , thank you very much

Tommy Li - 3 years, 6 months ago

What about 1/3? The question says it doesn’t matter where you put the +

A Former Brilliant Member - 3 years, 6 months ago

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How did you manage to get 1/3?

Micah Wood - 3 years, 6 months ago

1/3+2/3+3/3+4/3+5/3+6/3+7/3+8/3+9/3=15

Mohamed El-Shaaer - 3 years, 6 months ago

i tried (1234+56789)/3 and it's undivisible and so 1234/3 , so how can be the correct answer is right! can someone find the wrong here?

Houari Hocine Abdellatif - 3 years, 6 months ago

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(1234/3)+(56789/3)=411.33+18929.67=19341

Mohamed El-Shaaer - 3 years, 6 months ago

1234+56789=58023;ans/3=19341

Aneesh Kumar - 3 years, 4 months ago
Luis Salazar
Dec 6, 2017

With any sum example:

    12345
+    6789
    19134

We can rewrite the sum as:

= 1*(10000) + 2*(1000) + 3*(100) + 4*(10) + 5*(1)
            + 6*(1000) + 7*(100) + 8*(10) + 9*(1)

= 1*(1+9999) + 2*(1+999) + 3*(1+99) + 4*(1+9) + 5
            + 6*(1+999) + 7*(1+99) + 8*(1+9) + 9

= 1 + 1*9999 + 2 + 2*999 + 3 + 3*99 + 4 + 4*9 + 5
            + 6 + 6*999 + 7 + 7*99 + 8 + 8*9 + 9

= 1*9999 + 2*999 + 6*999 + 3*99 + 7*99 + 4*9 + 8*9
            + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9

Since any number multiplied by *999~ is already a multiple of 3,

any combination will depend only on the sum of digits(1-9) = 45

45/3 = 15; 45%3 == 0

Therefore, it's always True

Genius. Very creative approach. Love it!

A Former Brilliant Member - 3 years, 6 months ago

We just have to consider the following modular congruence for m = 3 m=3 ,

( a + b ) ( a ( m o d m ) + b ( m o d m ) ) ( m o d m ) (a+b) \equiv (a \pmod m + b\pmod m) \pmod m ,

along with the following fact:

A number is divisible by 3 3 if and only if the sum of its digits is divisible by 3 3 .

Philbert Teo
Dec 4, 2017

Simple to overthink this question. Laws of Divisibility states that if the sum of digits of N is a multiple of 3, it is divisible by 3.

Sum of 1+2+3+.....+9 is 45, which is divisible by 3.

Thus, no matter how you add it, it is divisible by 3.

Nandu Sivadasan
Dec 4, 2017

A number N N is divisible by 3, if and only if its digital sum is also divisible by 3. And the reverse is true. Since 123456789 has a digital sum of 45 which is divisible by 3, 123456789 is divisible by 3. How many and wherever " + + " signs are placed within 123456789 do not change the overall digital sum of 45, therefore all the "summed" numbers are divisible by 3.


Proof that N N is divisible by 3 if and only if its digital sum is divisible by 3: Let N = k = 0 n 1 0 k d k N=\displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^n 10^kd_k , where d k d_k are the digits. Then we have N k = 0 n ( 9 + 1 ) k d k k = 0 n d k (mod 3) \displaystyle N \equiv \sum_{k=0}^n (9+1)^kd_k \equiv \sum_{k=0}^n d_k \text{ (mod 3)} . Therefore, N N is divisible by 3, iff its digital sum k = 0 n d k \displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^n d_k is divisible by 3.

Janesh G
Dec 9, 2017

The sum of digits are same in any arrangement of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Is 45.

So they will be divisible in any arrangement

Amar Khan
Dec 8, 2017

common sense way: if the sum of the digits of a real number equals three, then 3 is a factor of the number. add up all the digits (=45), then show that no possible placement of "+" can form a number, with the attribute that the sum of its digits is not a multiple of 3.

K M
Dec 7, 2017

No matter where you put the '+' sign in between the digits, at last you will be adding up all the digits from 1 to 9 altogether. It will always work even if you jumble the digits. e.g.: The sum (51+24+93+67+8) is divisible by 9.

Saif Hassan
Dec 5, 2017

here, you see that, 1234568789/3 ; 123+456+789/3, cause all number last digit is 9, so all number is divisiable to 3. also we first work on division then work with sum, so on the sum section we only consider the last number, as 123+456+789/3=123+456+263; we only divide 789 by 3.

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