Number Theory problem

What is the smallest integer value of n n such that 2 n 2^n starts with 999999999 \overline{999999999} ?


The answer is 1923400330.

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1 solution

Jeremy Galvagni
Aug 31, 2018

We seek 2 n 1 0 x 2^{n} \approx 10^{x} but also 2 n < 1 0 x 2^{n} < 10^{x} . The approximation should be very very close.

Using a base 2 logarithm we find, n < x log 2 10 n < x \cdot \log_{2}10 . Or log 2 10 > n x \log_{2}10 > \frac{n}{x}

We seek a rational approximation for log 2 10 \log_{2}10 that is ever so slightly too small.

Fortunately, there is an On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences with just what we need: Numerators of convergents to log_2(10) Our n n is somewhere on this list.

The problem now is which one ? I basically just tried them one, by one in this high precision calculator until I got there.

To 100 decimal places, The input: 10^(frac(1923400330*log(n(2,100),10)))

And the result: 9.999999999721382843735927151859775967059640108039803362830811802931061843671814991066226503

Means n = 1923400330 \large n=\boxed{1923400330}

Which is actually ten 9's in a row, but the next best choice only has eight. But because this is a convergent, there can't be a better choice.

The actual approximation is 2 1923400330 9.99999999972138284373592715185977596705964010803980336283081180293106184367181488 × 1 0 579001192 2^{1923400330} \approx 9.99999999972138284373592715185977596705964010803980336283081180293106184367181488\times 10^{579001192}

Can you solve it without any wikipedia help?

Alex Fullbuster - 2 years, 1 month ago

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Do you mean without OEIS? Probably not. The link gives Mathematica code, so you could use that to find the convergents instead. I don't have Mathematica, though.

Jeremy Galvagni - 2 years, 1 month ago

I mean, n/x≈0.30102999066398119521373889472449‬, so therefore, now if x=10^10, then n= 301029990, and hence, upon some changes, we could get 192340330.

Alex Fullbuster - 2 years, 1 month ago

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Can i comment

Abhinav Jha - 5 months, 1 week ago

Can i comment

Abhinav Jha - 5 months, 1 week ago

What type of changes do you mean

Abhinav Jha - 5 months, 1 week ago

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