chetan2u wrote:
How many trailing Zeroes does 49! + 50! have?
(A) 9
(B) 10
(C) 11
(D) 12
(E) 22
Self made
Factor out 49! from the expression: \(49! + 50!=49!(1+50)=49!*51\).
51 won't contribute to the number of zeros at the end of the number, therefore all zeros will come from 49!.
Trailing zeros in 49!: \(\frac{49}{5}+\frac{49}{5^2}=9+1=10\)
Answer: B.
THEORY:
Trailing zeros: Trailing zeros are a sequence of 0's in the decimal representation of a number, after which no other digits follow.
For example 125,000 has 3 trailing zeros;
The number of trailing zeros
n!, the factorial of a non-negative integer \(n\), can be determined with this formula:
\(\frac{n}{5}+\frac{n}{5^2}+\frac{n}{5^3}+...+\frac{n}{5^k}\), where \(k\) must be chosen such that \(5^{(k+1)} \gt n\)
It's easier if we consider an example:
How many zeros are in the end (after which no other digits follow) of 32!?
\(\frac{32}{5}+\frac{32}{5^2}=6+1=7\). Notice that the last denominator (\(5^2\)) must be less than 32. Also notice that we take into account only the quotient of the division, that is \(\frac{32}{5}=6\).
So there are 7 zeros in the end of 32!.
Another example, how many trailing zeros does 125! have?
\(\frac{125}{5}+\frac{125}{5^2}+\frac{125}{5^3}=25+5+1=31\),
The formula actually counts the number of factors 5 in n!, but since there are at least as many factors 2, this is equivalent to the number of factors 10, each of which gives one more trailing zero.