2009 AMC 12A Problem 18

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Concepts:prime factorizationsum and difference of cubes

Difficulty rating: 2010

18.

For k>0,k \gt 0, let Ik=10064,I_k = 10\ldots064, where there are kk zeros between the 11 and the 6.6. Let N(k)N(k) be the number of factors of 22 in the prime factorization of Ik.I_k. What is the maximum value of N(k)?N(k)?

66

77

88

99

1010

Solution:

Note that Ik=10k+2+64=2k+25k+2+26.I_k = 10^{k+2} + 64 = 2^{k+2}5^{k+2} + 2^6.

For k<4k \lt 4 the first term has fewer than 66 factors of 2,2, so N(k)<6.N(k) \lt 6. For k>4k \gt 4 the first term is divisible by 272^7 but the 262^6 term is not, so N(k)<7.N(k) \lt 7.

For k=4,k = 4, I4=26(56+1).I_4 = 2^6(5^6 + 1). Since 56+1=(52+1)((52)252+1)=26601,5^6 + 1 = (5^2 + 1)\big((5^2)^2 - 5^2 + 1\big) = 26\cdot 601, and 26=21326 = 2\cdot 13 contributes exactly one more factor of 2,2, we get N(4)=7.N(4) = 7.

So the maximum value is 7.7.

Thus, the correct answer is B.

Problem 18 in Other Years