Factorial based II

Numbers is one of the most important topics for CAT and other management entrance exams, questions
from which have appeared consistently and in significant numbers in all these exams.

Key concepts discussed:

Factorial n (or n!) is the product of first n natural number i.e.

n! = 1 2 3 (n 2) (n 1) n.
N N N
N
Highest power of any prime number x in N! is + 2 + 3 + ... + n , where N x n and [X]
x x x
x
represent the greatest integer less than or equal to X.
The number of zeros at the end of N! is equal to the highest power of 5 in N!.

Highlight: This session deals with questions which are based on finding the highest power of a number in
factorial of another number, number of zeros at the end of factorial of a number. Questions in the session
are of moderate difficulty level.

Session

Numbers

The questions discussed in the session are given below along with their source.
Q1.

If N = a b and N! = a! b!, where a and b are two distinct whole numbers less than 10, how many
pairs of a and b are possible?
(a) 8
(b) 9
(c) 10
(d) 2
(CL material)

Q2.

What is the highest power of 5 that divides 30!?

(a) 5
(b) 6
(c) 7

(d) 8

(e) 9
(CL material)

Q3.

Find the highest power of 42 in (6!)!

(a) 118
(b) 120
(c) 116

(d) 115
(CL material)

Q4.

60!
will be an odd number?
x
(c) 230
(d) 260

What is the least value of x such that

(a) 245

(b) 256

(CL material)
Q5.

Find the number of zeros at the end of (6!)6!.

(a) 720
(b) 120
(c) 1

(d) 6
(CL material)

Numbers

Session

Errata:
Despite the best of our efforts, minor slips have crept into this session which are elaborated
below for your convenience.
In question no. 2, at 5:52, GP mistakenly writes (22 )

14

Session

in place of (22 )

13

and 313 in place of 314.

Numbers