2026 AIME II Problem 9

Attempt Problem 9 of the 2026 AIME II below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2026 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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9.

Let SS denote the value of the infinite sum 19+199+1999+19999+\frac{1}{9} + \frac{1}{99} + \frac{1}{999} + \frac{1}{9999} + \cdots Find the remainder when the greatest integer less than or equal to 10100S10^{100} S is divided by 1000.1000.

Answer: 669
Concepts:geometric sequencefactor countingmodular arithmeticfloor and ceiling functions
Difficulty rating: 2920
Small Hint:

Expand each 110k1\frac{1}{10^k - 1} as a geometric series in 10k10^{-k} and collect equal powers of 10:10: the coefficient of 10n10^{-n} counts the divisors of n.n.

Big Hint:

After multiplying by 10100,10^{100}, only n=98,99,100n = 98, 99, 100 affect the last three digits, and the leftover tail is between 00 and 1.1.

Solution:

Each term is 110k1=j110kj,\frac{1}{10^k - 1} = \sum_{j \ge 1} 10^{-kj}, so summing over kk and collecting the exponent n=kj,n = kj, S=n1d(n)10n,S = \sum_{n \ge 1} \frac{d(n)}{10^n}, where d(n)d(n) is the number of divisors of n.n. Hence 10100S=n=1100d(n)10100n10^{100} S = \sum_{n = 1}^{100} d(n)\,10^{100 - n} +T+ T with T=m1d(100+m)10m.T = \sum_{m \ge 1} d(100 + m)\,10^{-m}.

From d(101)=2,d(101) = 2, d(102)=8,d(102) = 8, d(103)=2,d(103) = 2, d(104)=8,d(104) = 8, the tail starts 0.20.2 +0.08+ 0.08 +0.002+ 0.002 +0.0008=0.2828,+ 0.0008 = 0.2828, and since d(N)<2N,d(N) \lt 2\sqrt{N}, the remaining terms contribute less than m52100+m10m<0.001.\sum_{m \ge 5} \frac{2\sqrt{100 + m}}{10^m} \lt 0.001. So 0<T<10 \lt T \lt 1 and 10100S=n=1100d(n)10100n.\left\lfloor 10^{100} S \right\rfloor = \sum_{n = 1}^{100} d(n)\,10^{100 - n}.

Modulo 1000,1000, every term with n97n \le 97 is a multiple of 1000,1000, leaving d(98)100+d(99)10d(98) \cdot 100 + d(99) \cdot 10 +d(100).+ d(100). Since d(98)=6,d(98) = 6, d(99)=6,d(99) = 6, and d(100)=9,d(100) = 9, the remainder is 600+60+9=669.600 + 60 + 9 = 669.

Problem 8#8
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