Important Concepts and Shortcuts of Cyclicity of Numbers

Types of questions based on cyclicity of numbers

There are mainly 3 categories of questions which fall under cyclicity of numbers, that include
1. How to find units digit of a
b

2. How to find units digit of a
b
* c
d
* e
f

3. How to find units digit of a
bc

Let's see how to solve these questions using the concept of cyclicity of numbers, with examples.
Find units digit of a
b

Given a
b
, units place digit of the result depends on units place digit of a and the divisibility of power b.
Consider powers of 2
As we know,
2
1
=2
2
2
= 4
2
3
= 8
2
4
= 16
2
5
= 32
2
6
= 64
2
7
= 128.. and so on
What do you observe here? We can see that the units place digit for powers of 2 repeat in an order: 2, 4,
8, 6. So the "cyclicity" of number 2 is 4 (that means the pattern repeats after 4 occurrences) and the cycle
pattern is 2, 4, 8, 6.
From this you can see that to find the units place digit of powers of 2, you have to divide the exponent by
4.

Let's check the validity of above formula with an example.
Example
Find the units place digit of 2
99
?
Using the above observation of cyclicity of powers of 2, divide the exponent by 4
99/4 gives reminder as 3. That means, units place digit of 2
99
is the 3rd item in the cycle which is 8.

Shortcuts to solve problems related to units place digit of a
b

Case 1: If b is a multiple of 4
o If a is an even number, ie: 2, 4, 6 or 8 then the units place digit is 6
o If a is an odd number, ie: 1, 3, 7 or 9 then the units place digit is 1
Case 2: If b is not a multiple of 4
o Let r be the reminder when b is divided by 4, then units place of a
b
will be
equal to units place ofa
r

Let's call it the general rule of cyclicity. Using these rules you can solve
all the problems related to cyclicity of numbers.

Here we have captured the cyclicity of numbers upto 9 in the below table.
Number ^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 Cyclicity
2 2 4 8 6 4

3 3 9 7 1 4

4 4 6 4 6 2

5 5 5 5 5 1

6 6 6 6 6 1

7 7 9 3 1 4

8 8 4 2 6 4

9 9 1 9 1 2


Find units digit for numbers of the form a
b
* c
d

Question of this type is similar to first category.
1. First find the unit digit of a
b
and c
d
separately. Let the answers be x and y
2. Then unit digit of a
b
* c
d
= units digit of x * y

Find units digit of a
b
c

Questions of this type have to be approached on a case by case basis.
Case 1: If cyclicity of units place digit of a is 4 then we have to divide the exponent
of a by 4 and find out the remainder. Depending on the value of remainder we can
apply the general rule of cyclicity given above and reach the solution.
Case 2: If cyclicity of units place digit of a is 2, only extra information we need to find
is if the exponent will be even or odd. Then we can apply the general rule of cyclicity
given above and reach the solution.
Let's see application of these rules with help of examples
Example 1:
Find the units place digit of 2
4344

Here cyclicity of units place digit is 4 (Units place digit is 2, from the above table we can see the
cyclicity of 2 is 4). Hence case 1 is applicable.
Now we have to find the remainder when exponent of 2 is divided by 4, that is the remainder when
43
44
is divided by 4.
Remainder of 43
44
/4 = Remainder of (44 1)
44
/4
Using the binomial theorem, (as explained in number system tutorial) we can see that there is only
one term in the expansion of (44 1)
44
which is not divisible by 4.
The term is 1
44
/4
Remainder of 1
44
/4 = 1
Now we can apply the general rules of cyclicity, (since reminder is 1, case 2 of general rule of cyclicity
is applicable) which says, units place of 2
4344
= units place of 2
1
= 2.
Example 2:
Find the units place digit of 29
3945

Here cyclicity of units place digit of a, that is cyclicity of 9 is 2. Hence case 2 is applicable
Next step is we need to find if 39
45
is even or odd
39
45
will always result in an odd number, because we are multiplying an odd number 39, odd number
of times (45).
Now we can apply the general rule of cyclicity described in the first section. General rule says, first
check if exponent is divisible by 4. Since the exponent here is odd, it's not divisible by 4.
Again according to general rule, if exponent is not divisible by 4, find the reminder when exponent is
divided by 4.
Since the exponent is odd here, the possible reminders when it's divided by 4 are 1 and 3.
This means, the units place digit of number will be 1st or 3rd element in the cyclicity of units place
digit of a.
In this case 1st and 3rd elements of 9 (units place digit of 29) is 9.
Hence units place digit of 229
3945
is 9.
Frequently Asked Questions on Cyclicity of Numbers
Find the unit digit of x
y

Find the unit digit of x
y
+ a
b

Find the unit digit of x
y
- a
b

Find the unit digit of x
y
* a
b

Find the unit digit of x
yz