2005 AMC 10A Problem 15

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 15 of the 2005 AMC 10A, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2005 AMC 10A solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:prime factorizationfactor countingfactorial

Difficulty rating: 1580

15.

How many positive cubes divide 3!5!7!?3! \cdot 5! \cdot 7!\,?

22

33

44

55

66

Solution:

As a product of primes, 3!5!7!=2834527.3! \cdot 5! \cdot 7! = 2^8 \cdot 3^4 \cdot 5^2 \cdot 7. A cube divisor uses exponents that are multiples of 3:3: the exponent of 22 can be 0,3,0, 3, or 66 (33 choices), the exponent of 33 can be 00 or 33 (22 choices), and the exponents of 55 and 77 must be 0.0. That gives 3211=63 \cdot 2 \cdot 1 \cdot 1 = 6 cubes.

Thus, the correct answer is E.

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