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The numbers in the problem are too large for computers to deal
with in a straightforward fashion (or, rather, were in 2011), so we
need to use pure mathematics to help us. There are at least two
possible positive ways forwards:
First, you might notice that the inequality is a quadratic in the
variable n^2. You could solve the corresponding equality and use
this to work out the minimum value of n by rounding up the answer
to the next largest integer.
Alternatively, you could notice that 10^{100}=(10^{25})^4. So,
it is quite clear that n=10^{25} is too small.
What about 10^{25}+1? We can substitute this value and use the
binomial theorem to show that \begin{eqnarray}
(10^{25}+1)^4-6(10^{25}+1)^2&=&\left(10^{100} +4\times
10^{75} + 6\times 10^{50} +4\times 10^{25} + 1\right)\cr
&&\quad\quad- 6\left(10^{50}+2\times 10^{25}+1\right)
\cr
&=& 10^{100}+4\times 10^{75}-8\times 10^{25}-5
\end{eqnarray}
Now for writing out the number N on the left hand side of the inequality. As the number is so large a computer or a spreadsheet will not easily help us. Keeping the '+1' part separate for as long as possible gives us (where X=10^{25})
\begin{eqnarray} N &=& (X+1)^4-6(X+1)^2 \cr &=& X^4+4X^3+6X^2+4X+1 - 6(X^2+2X+1)\cr &=& X^4+4X^3-8X-5 \end{eqnarray}
Firstly, 8\times 10^{25} is represented as 8 followed by 25 zeros. Removing this from the part 4\times 10^{75} leaves a number of the form
100\dots 0039\dots 9200\dots 00
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,003,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,919,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,995
Phew! Who would have thought that place value could be so tricky? If you are planning on entering a career in finance or science then part of your computer programming will be to ensure that large numbers that you enter into your code are accurate. A lot could rest on this accuracy, so patient and careful detail are the key skills required.
Can you massage the parameters of these curves to make them match as closely as possible?