2021 JMPSC Accuracy Problems/Problem 14

Problem

What is the leftmost digit of the product $\underbrace{161616 \cdots 16}_{100 \text{ digits }} \times \underbrace{252525 \cdots 25}_{100 \text{ digits }}?$

Solution

We notice that $16000\cdots \times 25000\cdots = 16 \times 25 \times 10^{198} = 400 * 10^{198}$ In addition, we notice that $16200\cdots \times 25300\cdots = 162 \times 253 \times 10^{194} = 40986 \times 10^{194}$

Since $16000\cdots \times 25000\cdots < \underbrace{161616 \cdots 16}_{100 \text{ digits }} \times \underbrace{252525 \cdots 25}_{100 \text{ digits }} < 16200\cdots \times 25300\cdots$

We conclude that the leftmost digit must be $\boxed{4}$ .

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2021 JMPSC Accuracy Problems/Problem 14

Problem

Solution