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n ! k = ( 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 ) 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 \large \large \frac {n!}{k} = (2 \times 3 \times 5 \times 7)^{2 + 3 + 5 + 7}

Given the equation above is true for integers k k and n n , what is the least possible value of n n ?


The answer is 105.

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2 solutions

n ! k = ( 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 ) 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 = ( 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 ) 17 \dfrac{n!}{k} = (2\times3\times5\times7)^{2+3+5+7} = (2\times3\times5 \times 7) ^{17}

The smallest n ! n! must be the smallest number which has 7 17 7^{17} as a factor.

The power of 7 7 in n ! n! can be found with: p 7 = k = 1 n 7 k p_7 = \displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^\infty {\left \lfloor \frac{n}{7^k} \right \rfloor} , where \lfloor \space \rfloor is the greatest integer function.

For p 7 = 17 p_7 = 17 , n = 105 n=\boxed{105} .

Moderator note:

Why is this true?

The smallest n ! n! must be the number which has 7 17 7^{17} as a factor.

We note that p 7 < p 5 < p 3 < p 2 p_7 < p_5<p_3<p_2 , so when n ! n! has 7 17 7^{17} as a factor, it also has 2 17 2^{17} , 3 17 3^{17} and 5 17 5^{17} as factors. The excess powers of these prime factors are factors of k k together with other primes less than n ! n! , so that the equation is satisfied.

Chew-Seong Cheong - 6 years ago

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Right, so you would also have to explain why n ! n ! will also be a multiple of 2 17 × 3 17 × 5 17 2^ { 17} \times 3 ^ { 17 } \times 5 ^ {17} .

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years ago
Efren Medallo
May 31, 2015

The expression suggests that n ! n! should have at least 17 17 factors of 2 2 , 3 3 , 5 5 , and 7 7 . Since 7 7 occurs relatively rarer than the other digits, then it has to be assured that n ! n! contains at least 17 17 factors of 7 7 .

Therefore, we have to find n n such that the total factors of 7 7 from 1 1 to n n amount to 17 17 . We can say that n n may be equal to 17 × 7 = 119 17 \times 7 = 119 if we consider every multiple of 7 7 occurring from 1 1 to n n inclusive. However, we failed to consider the fact that 49 49 and 98 98 each contribute to two factors of 7 7 . Thus, we count 49 49 and 98 98 twice and the multiples included will only be 15 15 . Thus the answer, 15 × 7 = 105 15 \times 7 = \boxed {105}

Moderator note:

There's a slightly more systematic way to solve this when the number we're looking for becomes larger.

Hint: Construct a function f : N N f : \mathbb N \to \mathbb N to determine the highest power of x x that divides n ! n! .

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