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Quote:

Let N = 60! + 55! + 50! The unit digit of N and a number of digits to the left of the units digits are consecutive zeros before we come to the first non-zero digit. How many such consecutive zeros are there until the first non-zero digit?

A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 12
E. 10

The number of consecutive zeros to the left of the units digit is the number of trailing zeros;
The number of trailing zeros of a factorial is the sum of the quotients of the factorial's integer divided by 5:
We must find trailing zeros for 50!, because its smaller than 60! and 55!, thus the first non-zero digit will appear first.

50/5=10; 50/25=2; trailing zeros=12

Ans (D)
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Question:
Let N = 60! + 55! + 50! The unit digit of N and a number of digits to the left of the units digits are consecutive zeros before we come to the first non-zero digit. How many such consecutive zeros are there until the first non-zero digit?
A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 12
E. 10

Solution:

The number of consecutive zeros till the first non-zero digit is basically the number of trailing zeroes in a number
The number of trailing zeroes will be decided by the exponent of 10
For example, in the number 10100, there are 2 trailing zeroes since \(10100 = 101 * 10^2\)

Thus, in the given number, we need to determine the highest exponent of 10

Since 10 = 2 * 5 we need to determine the highest exponent of 2 and that of 5 and then choose the smaller of the two values. For example, if we have \(2^8 * 5^3\), the exponent of 10 will be 3 (i.e. \(10^3\)) => 3 trailing zeroes

We have:
\(60! + 55! + 50!\)
\(= 50!*51*52*53*54*...*60 + 50!*51*52*53*54*55 + 50!\)
\(= 50! * [51*52*...*60 + 51*52*...*55 + 1]\)

Let us check the part within [ ]:
\((51*52*...*60)\) is a multiple of 5; \((51*52*...*55)\) is a multiple of 5; but 1 is not a multiple of 5
Hence, the term within [ ] is NOT a multiple of 5

Also: (51*52*...*60) is even; (51*52*...*55) is even; but 1 is not even
Hence, the term within [ ] is NOT even

Thus, the required 2s and 5s are present only in 50!

Since the highest power of 2 in 50! will be much higher than that of 5 in 50!, we simply need to determine the highest power of 5 in 50!

The required power is: \([50/5] + [50/25] = 10 + 2 = 12\)

Answer D
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N = 50!*(60*59*58...*51+ 55*54*...*51+1)
50! ; 50/5 + 50/25 ; 12 zeroes
IMO D ; 12


Let N = 60! + 55! + 50! The unit digit of N and a number of digits to the left of the units digits are consecutive zeros before we come to the first non-zero digit. How many such consecutive zeros are there until the first non-zero digit?

A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 12
E. 10
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60!, 55!, and 50! have 14, 13, and 12 factors of 5, respectively. Of course, there is more than sufficient number of factor of 2 for each factor of 5 in any of 60!, 55!, and 50!.

The lowest number of factor of 5 (which is 12) will govern the number of consecutive zeros (which is also 12) until the first non-zero digit.

Final Answer is (D)

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Individually,
50! has 50/5 + 50/25 = 12 trailing zeros.
55! has 55/5 + 55/25 = 13 trailing zeros.
60! has 60/5 + 60/25 = 14 trailing zeros.
We can assume that the non-zero digit before the trailing zeros for 50! is a, while that for 55! is b and that for 60! is c.
Then N can be written in terms of the first non-zero digit before the trailing zeros as a*10^12 + b*10^13 + c*10^14 = a*10^12 + b0*10^12 + c00*10^12 = 10^12(a + b0 + c00)= xya * 10^12
where x and y are digits from 0 to 9.
So clearly, the number if trailing zeros for N=60!+55!+50! is 12.

The answer is D.

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N = 60! + 55! + 50!
We can take 60! = 50!*a, for some positive integer a
& 55! = 50!*b for some positive integer b

--> N = 50!*a + 50!*b + 50!
--> N = 50!(a + b + 1) = 50!*c, for some positive integer c [Note that unit digit of c is a non zero digit as c = a+b+1]

So, number of consecutive zeros from unit digit till a non-zero digit in N is same number of consecutive zeros from unit digit till a non-zero digit of 50!
--> Number of zero digits in 50! = [50/5] + [50/5^2] = [10] + [2] = 10 + 2 = 12

Option D
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Let N = 60! + 55! + 50! The unit digit of N and a number of digits to the left of the units digits are consecutive zeros before we come to the first non-zero digit. How many such consecutive zeros are there until the first non-zero digit?

A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 12
E. 10
In each term of N = 60! + 55! + 50!
zeros are obtained from 2*5, so the number of 5(always lesser than that of 2) decides the number of consecutive zeros before which first nonzero digit is arrived at.

So,
Number of zeros = minimum(14, 13, 12) = 12 as clearly can be seen from the expression below where the first non zero digit is 1 which comes after 12 zeros from expression 50!
N = 50!(60* ...* 51 + 55*...*51 + 1)

Answer D.
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The least of the sum is 50!....

No.of zeros in 50! Is ....50/5= 10
10/5=2

Total=12

OA:D

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Bunuel

Competition Mode Question



Let N = 60! + 55! + 50! The unit digit of N and a number of digits to the left of the units digits are consecutive zeros before we come to the first non-zero digit. How many such consecutive zeros are there until the first non-zero digit?

A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 12
E. 10


Are You Up For the Challenge: 700 Level Questions

We can rewrite N as 50!(60P10 + 55P5 + 1). We see that the units digit of 60P10 + 55P5 + 1 is 1 since the first two addends have units digits of 0 (notice that 60P10 has 60 as a factor and 55P5 has 55 and 54 as factors). Therefore, the number of trailing zeros of N is the same as the number of trailing zeros of 50!. Recall that the number of trailing zeros in a factorial is determined by the number of 5-and-2 pairs that occur in the factorial. Since the number of 5s is less than the number of 2s in 50!, we see that the number of 5-and-2 pairs is limited by the number of 5s that occur in 50!.

From 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50, we obtain 6 factors of 5. From 5, 15, 25, 35, and 45, we obtain 6 additional factors of 5. The total number of factors of 5 in 50! is, therefore, 6 + 6 = 12. Thus, we have twelve 5-and-2 pairs, and this indicates that there are 12 trailing zeros until the first non-zero digit.

Answer: D
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