The last digit

2 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! + + 100 ! \LARGE 2^{1! + 2! + 3! + \ldots + 100!}

What is the last digit of the number above?

6 2 4 8

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3 solutions

Otto Bretscher
Apr 27, 2015

If m n ( m o d 4 ) m\equiv{n} \pmod4 for two positive integers m m and n n , then 2 m 2 n ( m o d 10 ) 2^m\equiv2^n\pmod{10} .

Now 4 n ! 4|n! for n 4 n\geq4 . Thus

2 1 ! + 2 ! + . . . + 100 ! 2 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! = 2 9 2 ( m o d 10 ) 2^{1!+2!+...+100!}\equiv2^{1!+2!+3!}=2^{9}\equiv\boxed{2} \pmod{10}

To find the last three digits, for example, we would have to analyze the exponent modulo 100 since 100 = ϕ ( 125 ) 100=\phi(125) . If m n ( m o d 100 ) m\equiv{n} \pmod{100} for two integers m 3 m\geq3 and n 3 n\geq3 , then 2 m 2 n ( m o d 1000 ) 2^m\equiv2^n\pmod{1000} , since they are congruent both modulo 125 and modulo 8.

Now 100 n ! 100|n! for n 10 n\geq10 , so that

2 1 ! + 2 ! + . . . + 100 ! 2 1 ! + 2 ! + . . . + 9 ! 2 13 192 ( m o d 1000 ) 2^{1!+2!+...+100!}\equiv2^{1!+2!+...+9!}\equiv2^{13}\equiv\boxed{192} \pmod{1000}

Samrit Pramanik
Apr 25, 2015

If we divide 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! + + 100 ! 1! + 2! + 3! + \ldots + 100! by 4 4 then we get the remainder 1 1 , so, the answer is 2 1 = 2 2^1\ = 2

Moderator note:

Good. For clarity, you should explain why you could calculate the remainder so easily.

How do you calculate the remainder?

Shadow King - 6 years, 1 month ago

For 4 ! 4! and larger, all the terms will be divisible by 4 4 . 2 ! + 3 ! 2!+3! is divisible by 4 4 . Therefore, the remainder is 1 ! 1! , or 1 1 .

Trí Onii-sama - 6 years, 1 month ago
Damiann Mangan
Apr 25, 2015

Based on the observation, power of two's have period of 4 4 in its last digit 2 , 4 , 8 , 6 2, 4, 8, 6 . Thus, as 4 n ! 4 | n! for n 4 n \ge 4 , we only need to count 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! 1 ( m o d 4 ) 1! + 2! + 3! \equiv 1 \pmod{4} , which means the answer is 2 2 .

Moderator note:

Good! Can you generalize this? What is the last two digits of 2 2 raised to the power of k = 1 n k ! {\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n k!} for some large enough n n ? How about last three digits? And so on?

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