2026 AIME II Problem 9

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 9 of the 2026 AIME II, 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.

All of the real AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME problems in our complete solution collection are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Concepts:geometric sequencefactor countingmodular arithmeticfloor and ceiling functions

Difficulty rating: 2920

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.

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)10100n+T10^{100} S = \sum_{n = 1}^{100} d(n)\,10^{100 - n} + 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 0.2+0.08+0.002+0.0008=0.2828,0.2 + 0.08 + 0.002 + 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)10+d(100).d(98) \cdot 100 + d(99) \cdot 10 + 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 8Full ExamProblem 10

Problem 9 in Other Years