Problem

Find the number of positive integers less than or equal to $2017$ whose base-three representation contains no digit equal to $0$ .

Solution

The base- $3$ representation of $2017_{10}$ is $2202201_3$ . Because any $7$ -digit base- $3$ number that starts with $22$ and has no digit equal to $0$ must be greater than $2017_{10}$ , all $7$ -digit numbers that have no digit equal to $0$ must start with $21$ or $1$ in base $3$ . Of the base- $3$ numbers that have no digit equal to $0$ , there are $2^5$ $7$ -digit numbers that start with $21$ , $2^6$ $7$ -digit numbers that start with $1$ , $2^6$ $6$ -digit numbers, $2^5$ $5$ -digit numbers, $2^4$ $4$ -digit numbers, $2^3$ $3$ -digit numbers, $2^2$ $2$ -digit numbers, and $2^1$ $1$ -digit numbers. Summing these up, we find that the answer is $2^5+2^6+2^6+2^5+2^4+2^3+2^2+2^1=\boxed{222}$ .

2017 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
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2017 AIME II Problems/Problem 4

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