PROMYS Application Problem Set Solutions – Daksh Kikan

Solution:

A number an is only divisible by 5 if the last digit of 2n is 8, i.e., 8-3=5

The sequence of the powers of 2 goes as follows:

And then it loops

8 comes in the third power of 2

Then next 8 will come after 4 more powers

So, the equation will be: 24𝑛+3 − 3 is divisible by 5.

For 13 it is a little bit tricky.

For 13, it shows a pattern of being divisible when 2𝑛 ends in 6.

𝑛
On further calculation, it is divisible on 24 − 3

For a number in the form of 2𝑛 − 3 to be divisible by 13, it needs a value of n so that 4𝑛 = 4𝑛 + 3

We can see that 4𝑛 grows exponentially, so 4𝑛 ≫ 4𝑛 + 3,

therefore 65 can never be divisible by 2𝑛 − 3

Solution:

We can see that an echo of a number 𝑥 with 𝑦 number of digits: 10𝑦 𝑥 + 𝑥

For example: 𝑥 = 2023, we can see that there are 4 digits, so 𝑦 = 4 → 104 × 2023 + 2023

Which becomes 2023 × 10000 + 2023 → 20230000 + 2023 = 20232023

Now we take 𝑥 common in the equation. It becomes: 𝑥(10𝑦 + 1)

Now we put value of y as 1,2,3,4….. in the equation.

(i) Putting y as 1: 𝑥(10 + 1) = 𝑥(11)

For the echo to be a prime number, x needs to be 11 too as 11 is a prime number. But this
contradicts the fact that 𝑥 must be only one digit. Therefore, there is not a 1-digit number which’s
echo is a perfect square.

(ii) Putting y as 2:𝑥(100 + 1) = 𝑥(101)

Similarly, 101 is a prime number, so 𝑥 must be 101 for the 2-digit echo to be a perfect square. But
this also contradicts the face that 𝑥 must be a 2-digit number (101 is a three digit number).
Therefore, there is not a 2-digit numbers which’s echo is a perfect square.

(iii) Putting y as 3: 𝑥(1000 + 1) = 𝑥(1001)

Since 1001’s prime factorisation is 7 × 11 × 13, which are all primes and non-recurring, so 𝑥 must
be 1001, which is a four-digit number. This contradicts the fact that 𝑥 must be a three-digit number.

As we can see this is following a pattern, and according to this pattern, there cannot be a perfect
square echo of any number.
Solution:

This answer will be divided into 3 parts.

(i) Finding the points / coordinates

(ii) Finding the center for the circle to surround the coordinates
(iii) Finding the radius of the circle for (ii)

(i) Finding the points / coordinates

To find the points which will be in the center, we will first make a grid. To make the grid have
more points while not touch other points, we will assume that the grind is a square. Therefore,
number of points, i.e., 𝑛, becomes the area. Therefore, the side of the grid is equal to √𝑛. Since
there is a point in the center of the grid, the formula for the side becomes √𝑛 − 1. Since we will
√𝑛−1
be extending the sides on all four directions, we make the formula 2
. Therefore, the formula
√𝑛−1 √𝑛−1
for finding the points becomes . So, we will extend from the center point: in all four
2 2
directions. To fill the remaining points, we fill the points in a clockwise order, or else other points
will get included because the center would not be in the right place.
√36−1 (6−1) 5
Application: for 𝑛 = 36, we find = =
2 2 2

NOTE: WHEN ROUNDING THE SQUARE ROOTS, THE ROOT WILL ALWAYS BE ROUNDED DOWN,
FOR EXAMPLE: √8 = 2.8, HOWEVER IT WILL BE ROUNDED DOWN TO 2.

WHEN ROUNDING THE EQUATION AFTER IT IS HALVED, IT WILL ALWAYS BE ROUNDED UP, FOR
EXAMPLE: 𝑛 = 8, √8 − 1 ≅ 2 − 1 = 1. HOWEVER, WHEN BEING HALVED BECAUSE OF THE
1
EQUATION, 2 = 0.5 → 1.
(ii) Finding the center

Finding the center is much simpler, as we just average all the 𝑥 and 𝑦 co-ordinates. However,
since there are no lattice points on the 𝑥 and 𝑦 axis, we must be taking start plotting the points
from (√𝑛, √𝑛), but this time, instead of rounding down, we round the root up.

The co-ordinates for the center of the circle for including 𝑛 points and co-ordinates
(𝑥1 , 𝑦1 ), (𝑥2 , 𝑦2 ), (𝑥3 , 𝑦3 ) … … (𝑥𝑛 , 𝑦𝑛 ) being their respective points till
𝑥1 +𝑥2 +𝑥3 +⋯…𝑥𝑛 (𝑦1 +𝑦2 +𝑦3 +⋯…𝑦𝑛
𝑛:( , )
𝑛 𝑛

(iii) Finding the radius

𝑥1 +𝑥2 +𝑥3 +⋯…𝑥𝑛 (𝑦1 +𝑦2 +𝑦3 +⋯…𝑦𝑛
NOTE: 𝑛
= 𝑥𝑐 and 𝑛
= 𝑦𝑐

Assuming the distance between two lattice points is 1: Using Pythagorean theorem, we can see
that the distance between one point and its diagonally adjacent point is: √12 + 12 = √2.

Since the circumference of the circle must pass over the lattice point, the radius is equal to the
furthest diagonal point. Since in a 𝑥 × 𝑥 grid, the lattice points in a diagonal are equal to the
lattice points in the horizontal, just like in a chess board, therefore the equation becomes:
√𝑛−1
√2 × ( 2 ) (inputting the equation from (i). However, we cannot cancel the √2 and 2 since it
will further complicate the rounding up process. There is a problem in this solution. If the grid is
not in a 𝑥 × 𝑥 format, the center will be off-center, so the radius will be less than the required
radius for including the circle. To solve this, we will find the distance between the center lattice
point, and the center of the whole grid, whether or not it is in an 𝑥 × 𝑥 format or not. The

distance will be (using the Pythagorean theorem): √(√𝑛 − 𝑥𝑐 )2 + (√𝑛 − 𝑦𝑐 )2 .

However, since we do not know if the circumference passing over the point includes the point or
not, so we will add a small fraction of 𝑟: 𝑑𝑟 to 𝑟 so that the circumference passes over the point,
including it regardless of the conditions assumed. (Radius= 𝑟)

The final equation for finding the radius becomes:

(√𝑛−1) 2
√2 × + √((√𝑛 − 𝑥𝑐 )2 + (√𝑛 − 𝑦𝑐 ) ) + 𝑑𝑟
2
Solution:

Upon calculating the follow sums:

13 + 53 + 33 = 153

163 + 503 + 333 = 165033

1663 + 5003 + 3333 = 166500333

16663 + 50003 + 33333 = 166650003333

We can notice a pattern here that every time a 6, a 0, and a 3 get added adjacent to 1,5, and 3
respectively, Each time a 6 gets added adjacent to 1, 0 gets added adjacent to 5, and 3 gets added
adjacent to 3 on the LHS. We can formulate an equation based on this.

(1𝑒𝑥)3 + (5𝑒𝑦)3 + (3𝑒𝑧)3 = 1𝑒𝑥5𝑒𝑦3𝑒𝑧 (𝑒𝑥, 𝑒𝑦, 𝑒𝑧 = number of times (x, y, z), 𝑥 = 6, 𝑦 = 0, 𝑧 =
3)

NOTE: 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 ARE JUST PLACEHOLDERS, THEY ARE NOT BEING MULTIPLIED TO THE GIVEN
NUMBERS.1

1
I cannot prove the generalization of the problems; I can only see the pattern between the numbers.

However, I did explore a page about happy cube numbers which dealt with these patterns. CREDIT:
http://www.djohn89.com/happy-cube-numbers.html
Solution:

After calculation, 3 conclusions have been reached.

1. We can see that there is a strict rule that is followed in these numbers.
𝑎 𝑎+𝑏
, 𝑏/2𝑎 are in S as per (ii). Therefore, is in S as per (iii)
𝑏 2𝑎+𝑏

Continuing this, we see that if we repeat the same above i.e., changing a/b to b/2a and adding both,
we get the following:
𝑎+𝑏 2𝑎 + 𝑏 3𝑎 + 2𝑏 4𝑎 + 3𝑏 𝑛
= = = ……..
2𝑎 + 𝑏 2𝑎 + 2𝑏 4𝑎 + 3𝑏 6𝑎 + 4𝑏 𝑥
We can see a pattern here which tells us that the denominator is always bigger than the numerator.
Even adding other combinations in S also resulted in the denominator being bigger than the
numerator.

2. 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑 are always natural numbers, because a natural number + a natural number is

always a natural number.
3. 𝑎 = 𝑏
4. 2𝑎 > 𝑏
𝑎+𝑏 𝑎
5. Putting 2𝑎+𝑏 as 𝑏 , we get 𝑎 + 𝑏 < 2𝑎 + 𝑏

Equations could be formed from these conditions, as sets have not been studied by me yet.
Solution:

According to permutation combinations, the number of combinations will obviously be 𝑛!, i.e., if
number of trains is equal to 3, therefore 𝑛 = 3

Number of combinations= 3! = 3 × 2 × 1 = 6

There will always be 1 combination with only 1 merged train, and only 1 combination with 𝑛 number
of trains. The rest of the combinations will be between 𝑛 and 1, and their average will
𝑛+1
always be 2
. After using permutation on 𝑛 = 4 trains, it is revealed that the average
𝑛+1
number of trains on the track will always be 2
. For 4 trains, there will be an average of 2.5
trains.

NOTE: S=Slow M=Medium speed F=Fast

Order/Sequence of Trains Merged Number of Trains

S F M 2
 S M F 3
F S M 2
F M S 1
M F S 2
M S F 2

There will be 4! = 24 combinations with 4 trains, and so on.

Adding one more train to the

combination will give following
merged no. of trains Order/Sequence of Trains Merged Number of Trains
S0 SF SM SS
3 2 2 2 S F M 2
4 3 3 3 S M F 3
3 2 3 3 F S M 2
2 1 2 2 F M S 1
3 2 2 3 M F S 2
3 2 2 3 M S F 2

Note: speeds S0, SF, SM, SS whereas, S0 Speed less than S, SS Speed more than S, SM Speed more than
M, and SF Speed more than F
𝑛+1
The average number of trains on the track using all orders for 𝑛 number of trains is 2
.