Which sets of non-zero base 10 digits have the property that, for every n, there is a n-digit number made up of these digits that is divisible by 5n?
This is an extension of
Prove that for any integer n>0, there exists a number consisting of 1's and 2's only, which is divisible by 2n.
Here is my answer:
Any set of digits
which form
a complete residue set
modulo 5.
In particular,
any 5 consecutive digits.
A proof by induction
is not too difficult.
Answer
Partial result . . .
Claim:
If S⊆{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} contains a complete residue system, mod 5, then for all positive integers n, there is an n-digit number x such that
- All digits of x are elements of S.
- 5n∣x.
Proof:
Assume S⊆{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} contains a complete residue system, mod 5.
Necessarily 5∈S, hence the claim holds for n=1.
Proceed by induction on n.
Fix n≥1, and let x be an n-digit number such that all digits of x are elements of S, and 5n∣x.
Let y=x5n.
Choose d∈S such that d(2n)+y≡0(mod5).
Let x′=d(10n)+x.
Then x′ is an (n+1)-digit number, all of whose digits are elements of S.
Also,x′=d(10n)+x=(5n)(d(2n)+y)
which is a multiple of 5n+1.
Thus, the induction is complete.
Update:
For S⊆{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}, call S qualifying if for every positive integer n, there is an n-digit number x such that
- All digits of x are in S.
- 5n∣x.
As was shown, if S⊆{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}, and S contains a complete residue system, mod 5, then S is qualifying.
For S⊆{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}, call S a minimal exception if
- S is a qualifying set.
- S does not contain a complete residue system, mod 5.
- No proper subset of S is qualifying.
Conjecture:
There are exactly 11 minimal exceptions, as listed below:
{1,2,3,5,6,7}{1,2,3,5,6,8}{1,2,3,5,7,8}{1,2,5,6,7,8}{1,2,5,6,7,9}{1,3,5,6,7,8}{2,3,4,5,7,9}{2,3,5,6,7,8}{2,3,5,7,8,9}{2,4,5,6,7,9}{3,4,5,7,8,9}
Remarks: All of the above sets survived testing for 1≤n≤10000.
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