1983 AIME Problems/Problem 8
Contents
[hide]Problem
What is the largest -digit prime factor of the integer ?
Solution
Solution 1
Expanding the binomial coefficient, we get . Let the required prime be ; then . If , then the factor of appears twice in the denominator. Thus, we need to appear as a factor at least three times in the numerator, so . The largest such prime is , which is our answer.
Solution 1.5, half (desperate)
The only way a single prime number will be left out after all the cancelation will have to satisfy the condition that out of all the multiples of the prime number we want to find, 2 of the multiples will have to be between 100 and 200, is good for this solution (if you know your primes) because and both lie in the interval .
The reason for this is because if 2 copies of the prime we want to find are on the numerator and one copy on the denominator (AKA it contains and also ), there will only be 1 copy of the prime we want to find when all the cancellation is made when reducing the original fraction (only is left after cancellation).
~ (formatted shalomkeshet)
Solution 2: Clarification of Solution 1
We know that Since , there is at least factor of in each of the in the denominator. Thus there must be at least factors of in the numerator for to be a factor of . (Note that here we assume the minimum because as goes larger in value, the number of factors of in a number decreases,)
So basically, is the largest prime number such that Since , the largest prime value for is
~ Nafer
Note
Similar to 2023 MATHCOUNTS State Sprint #25
See Also
1983 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 7 |
Followed by Problem 9 | |
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