All possible values of x x

If 13 ! 2 x \dfrac{13!}{2^x} is an integer, which of the following represents all possible values of x ? x? (where x x is a non-negative integer).

A. 0 x 10 0 \le x \le 10 .
B. 0 x 9 0 \le x \le 9 .
C. 0 x < 10 0 \le x < 10 .
D. 1 x 10 1 \le x \le 10 .
E. 1 < x < 10 1 < x <10 .


Notation: ! ! is the factorial notation. For example, 8 ! = 1 × 2 × 3 × × 8 8! = 1\times2\times3\times\cdots\times8 .

E A D C B

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1 solution

Tapas Mazumdar
May 11, 2017

The highest power of a prime p p in the prime factorization of n ! n! is given by

k = i = 1 log p n n p i k = \sum_{i=1}^{\left\lfloor \log_{p} n \right\rfloor} \left\lfloor \dfrac{n}{p^i} \right\rfloor

Since the number we want should be an integer, therefore we can take all values of x x in the above problem ranging from 0 0 to k k , i.e., 0 x k 0 \le x \le k .

Evaluating the value of k k , we get

k = i = 1 log 2 13 13 2 i = i = 1 3 13 2 i = 13 2 + 13 2 2 + 13 2 3 = 6 + 3 + 1 = 10 k = \sum_{i=1}^{\left\lfloor \log_{2} 13 \right\rfloor} \left\lfloor \dfrac{13}{2^i} \right\rfloor = \sum_{i=1}^{3} \left\lfloor \dfrac{13}{2^i} \right\rfloor = \left\lfloor \dfrac{13}{2} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \dfrac{13}{2^2} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \dfrac{13}{2^3} \right\rfloor = 6 + 3 + 1 = 10

Thus, 0 x 10 \boxed{0 \le x \le 10} .

Nice and logical solution. Thank you.

Hana Wehbi - 4 years ago

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