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Factorial Fragments

Age 16 to 18
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow starYellow star
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Student Solutions

Maxwell from Samuel Gilbert Public School in Australia has got us started on this problem by noticing two things:

$\log{n!}=\log{n}+\log{(n-1)}+\log{(n-2)}+....+\log{2}+\log{1}$
and
$\log_a{n!}=m+\log_a{\frac{n!}{a^m}}$

The latter observation allows us to see that the integer term will always be the highest power of $a$ that goes into $n!$, so in particular there may not always be an integer term if $a$ is not a factor of $n!$.

Thomas from BHASVIC Sixth Form College in Brighton has furthered this arguement:
If $a$ does not divide $n!$, then there cannot be any integer term.

He also managed to solve the equation
$$\log n!= a \log 2 + \square \log 3 + 3 \log 5 + \square \log 7 + \log p + \log q$$
for $p < q$ both primes greater than $7$ and $a$ not prime.

First use fact that $n!$ has every integer less than and equal to $n$ as a factor. This means that $p$ and $q$ must be the next two primes after $7$, since otherwise these would be missing from the sum, even though they are factors of $n!$ (obviously need $n \geq q$). So $p=11$, $q=13$, and we must have $n \geq 13$.

We must also have $n<17$ since this prime does not appear in the sum, and $n \geq 15$ since we need $5^3$ to divide $n$, which leaves only two possibilities, $n=15$ and $n=16$.

A quick look at the $\log 2$ term tells us that for $n=15$ we get $a=11$ which is prime, but for $n=16$ we have $a=15$, so $n=16$ is the only possibility. Now calculating the empty boxes, get that $\log 16! = 15 \log 2 + 6 \log 3 + 3 \log 5 + 2 \log 7 + \log 11+ \log 13$.

If you found thinking about this problem interesting, you might like to look up an approximation called Stirling's formula:
$$\log n! \sim n\log n - n$$

You may also like

Powerful Quadratics

This comes in two parts, with the first being less fiendish than the second. It’s great for practising both quadratics and laws of indices, and you can get a lot from making sure that you find all the solutions. For a real challenge (requiring a bit more knowledge), you could consider finding the complex solutions.

Discriminating

You're invited to decide whether statements about the number of solutions of a quadratic equation are always, sometimes or never true.

Factorisable Quadratics

This will encourage you to think about whether all quadratics can be factorised and to develop a better understanding of the effect that changing the coefficients has on the factorised form.

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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