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 Table of Contents

Chapter Topic Page

No. No.
1 Concepts of Number of Zeros 1
2 Highest Power of Number 6
3 Remainders 8
4 Factorial Practice Online 9
Assignment
5. Answer Key & Explanation 11

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Chapter 1: Concepts of Number of Zeroes
How many zeros will be present at the end?

These types of questions are common in most

competitive exams. Such questions become confusing
when you go by the old ritual of counting the zero at the
end of numbers being multiplied. For example, there will
be 2 zeroes at the end of 20 × 30 as there is 1 zero in 20
and 1 zero in 30.
Problem arises in multiplications like 18 × 25. Here, you
will find no zero in the individual numbers, but the
product is 450, so this product will have 1 zero at the
end.
OR
Number of 2's in 18 is one (2 × 9) and number of 5's in 25
is two (5 × 5). So 2's in this case is less, which is one, so
this product will have 1 zero at the end.
NOTE: The number of zeros at the end will be equal to
the number of 5’s or the number of 2’s, whichever is less.
1. What is the number of zeros present at the end of
(12 × 13 × 14 × 15 × 16 ×17)?

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Explanation: If you take a look at the numbers, the
product of all numbers, except 15, will have 8 at the unit’s
digit. If you further multiply this product with 15, you get
one zero at the end of the result. The actual product is
8910720, and it has one zero at the end.
OR
Number of 5's you can find is in the 15 (5 × 3). So only
one 5 is there and number of 2's are 7 (12 × 14 × 16),
which is (22 × 3, 2 × 7, 24). The lower of 5s and 2s is 5 i.e.
1, so it will have 1 zero at the end.
2. How many zeros will be present at the end of (15 ×
25 × 35 × 75)?
Explanation: We see that there is a 5 at the unit’s place of
every number. For the final product to have a zero at the
end, there must be a 2 at the unit’s digit in any one of the
numbers. But as you can see, there is no 2, hence there
will be no zeros present at the end of the product of the
given numbers.
3. How many zeros will be present at the end of (19 ×
20 × 25 ×28)?

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Explanation: 19 will give neither a 5, nor a 2. 20 will give
one 5 and two 2.
25 will give two 5 and no 2. 28 will give two 2 and no 5.
In total, you get three 5s and four 2s. The lesser of the
two (i.e. the number of 5’s and 2’s) will be the number of
zeros in the product. Thus, the result will have three
zeros as the number of 5s is less than number of 2s.
NOTE: The number of zeros at the end will be equal to
the number of 5’s or the number of 2’s, whichever is less.
4. How many zeros will be present at the end of 10! ?
Explanation: In the factorial of any number, the number
of 2’s will always be greater than the number of 5
because every second number will give at least one 2
and every fifth number will give at least one 5. So, if you
need to find the number of zeros in a factorial, all you
need to do is just find the number of 5’s that appear.
Since, 10! will have two 5’s, therefore, it will have two
zeros at the end.
5. How many zeros will be present at the end of 120!?
Explanation: 120/5 =24; 120/25 = 4. There are 24
multiples of 5 and there are 4 multiple of 25. Now, the
multiples of 25 will have two 5’s each. As there are 4

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such numbers, they will provide one extra 5 each. Thus,
the total number of 5’s become, 24 + 4 = 28. So, the
number of 5’s are (24 + 4) = 28. Since, 120! has twenty
eight 5’s, therefore, the number of zeros will be twenty
eight.
OR
120/5 = 24, 24/5 = 4, and in single line we can write a
120/5 = 24 + 4 = 28
So it means first divide 120 by 5 and write the quotient
and which is 24 and now divide 24 by 5 and quotient is 4
now add 24 and 4, which is 28. This 28 will be the
number of 5s as well the number of zeroes.
6. How many 2's will be present in 100! ?
Explanation: In 100! number of 2s would be 100/2 = 50
number of 22 would be 100/22 = 25
number of 23 would be 100/23 = 12
number of 24 would be 100/24 = 6
number of 25 would be 100/25 = 3
number of 26 would be 100/26 = 1
Hence the total number of 2's would be 50 + 25+ 12 + 6 +
3 + 1 = 97.

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 OR
2's = 100/2 = 50 + 25 + 12 + 6 + 3 + 1 = 97. So in 100!
number of 2's will be 97.
So firstly divide 100 by 2 and quotient is 50 and now
divide 50 by 2 and quotient is 25. Now divide 25 by 2 and
quotient is 12. (ignore the remainder). Now divide 12 by 2
and quotient is 6 and so on till you get the quotient less
than the divisor.
7. How many zeros will be present at the end of (120!
– 20!) ?
Explanation: (120! – 20!) = 20!(120!/20! – 1). Now, if you
see (120!/20! – 1), the 120!/20! Will have some zeros at
the end, and when 1 is subtracted from it, a 9 will be
present at the end of the result and it will not end with a
zero. So, the number of zeros which you will get will be
just because of the common part i.e. 20!. As calculated
earlier, it will have four 5s and in turn 4 zeroes.

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Chapter 2: Highest Power of Number

1. Find the greatest power of 7, which will divide 53!

exactly.
1. 8 2. 12 3. 7 4. 6 5. 9
Explanation: If you divide 53 by 7, it tells you that 7
multiples of 7 come before 53, but in between that a
number 49 comes, which has two 7s in it.
Thus the greatest power of 7 that will divide exactly is 8.
Hence 1st option is the answer.
OR
7's = 53/7 = 7 + 1 = 8.
2. The highest power of 11 that will divide 177!
exactly is
1. 17 2. 2 3. 16 4. 25 5. 21
Explanation: Up to 177 there are 16 multiples of 11. But
out of those 16, one number is 121, which in fact is
having two 11s. Thus the highest power of 11 that will
divide it completely is 16 + 1 = 17. Hence 1st option.
OR
11's = 177/11= 16 + 1 = 17

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3. What is the highest power of 48, which will divide
42! completely?
1. 9 2. 3 3. 19 4.20

Explanation: The prime factors of 48 are 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3

= 24 × 3.
Calculate the number of 2s in 42!, which will be equal to
2's = 42/2 = 21 +10 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 39 , so 39 two's are there
in 42!. Now how many 24 can be made out of these 2s i.e.
39/4 = 9. (So we can make nine groups of 16 by taking
four 2's)
And number of 3's = 42/3 = 14 + 4 + 1 = 19.
So the number of 24 = 9 and number of 3's = 19, so
answer for this question will be 9, which is 1st option.
NOTE: Thus 9 is highest power of 48, which will divide it
completely (no need to check 3s in this case, because 42
itself is having fourteen 3s in it). Thus 1st option

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Chapter 3: Remainders

1. When 2! + 3! + 4! + ….55! is divided by 3, which of

the following is the remainder?
1. 1 2. 2 3. 0 4. Data inadequate
Explanation: The factorial of any natural number 3, is
always divisible by 3.
This means the remainder left will be only due to the
factorial of a number less than 3.
Given is 2!, which when divided by 3 gives 2 as the
remainder and this will be the answer. Thus, 2nd option.
2. The ten’s digit of 1! + 2! + 3! + ….+ 49! is
1. 2 2. 1 3. 3 4. 4
Explanation: We have 1! + 2! + 3! + 4! = 33.
Also 5! = 120, 6! = 720, 7! = 5040, 8! = 40320, 9! = 326880.
Thus the ten’s digit of 1! + 2! + 3! + ….. + 9! is 1.
You should know that the ten’s digit of the number can
also be found as dividing the number by 100 and finding
the remainder. Now that n! is divisible by 100 for all n >
10, so that the ten’s digit of 10! + 11! + 11! + … + 49! is
zero. Therefore, the ten’s digit of 1! + 2! + ….. + 49! is 1.
Thus, 2nd option.

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Factorial Practice Online Assignment

1. M = 21! + 23! + 25! + 27! + 29! + … 53!. Which of the

following is definitely false about M?
1. The last two digits of M will be 00
2. M is divisible by 50
3. (M ÷ 10) will be a prime number
4. M is divisible by 55
5. All are true
2. How many zeroes will be there at the end of the
product 2!2! × 3!3! × 7!7! × 9!9! × 10!10!?
1. 2 (10!) + 9! + 7! 2. 7! + 9! + 10!
3. 2! (10!) 4. 10 + 9 + 7
5. Data inadequate
3. If N is a positive odd number, find the value of m in
150! = 2m × N.
1. 146 2. 145
3. 75 4. None of these

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4. What is the highest power of 5 in 10! × 100! × 1000!
× 10000!?
1. 1200 2. 275 3. 2499 4. 2774
5. The digit in the unit position of the integer 1! + 2! +
3! + …+99! is
1. 3 2. 0 3. 1 4. 7
6. What is the highest power of 82 contained in 83! -
82!?
1. 2 2. 3 3. 4 4. 0
7. If N = 2 × 4 × 6 × 8 . . . 100 How many zeroes are
there at the end of N?
1. 12 2. 47 3. 59 4. 124
8. Find number of zeros at the end of 1090!
1. 250 2. 268 3. 269 4.
270
9. What is the remainder when 1! + 2! + 3! + 4! + … +
99! is divided by 18?
1. 19 2. 9 3. 1 4. 3
10. What is the number of trailing zeroes in 40! × (250)4
1. 9 2. 12 3. 21 4. 17

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Answer Key & Explanation
1. 2 From the concept of 0’s at the end it can be seen that
21! will have 4 zeroes at the end of it and therefore
factorial of all the bigger numbers will have at least 4
zeroes at the end. Thus the 1st and the 2nd options
are true. As each of these numbers is a multiple of 11
also, the total will also be a multiple of 11, 4th option
is also right. And 3rd option is definitely false.
Otherwise by seeing four zeroes at the end only it can
be verified that even if it is divided by 10, still three
zeroes will be at the end. Hence option 3.
2. 1 It is known that 7! gives 1 zero but it is to be taken 7!
times, the no. of zeroes it will give will be 7!. The next
figure will give 9! Zeroes. The last figure 10! gives 2
zeroes, but it is to be taken 10! Times, the no. of
zeroes will be 2 (10!). The total number of zeroes will
be 7! + 9! + 2(10!). First option is the answer. As 2! &
3! do not have any five in them, they will not produce
any zero. Hence option 1st.
3. 1 The value of m is basically the power of 2 in 150!.So
answer is 75 + 37 + 18 + 9 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 146. Hence
1st option.
4. 4 Using successive division by 5, 10! has 2 zeroes. 100!
has 20 + 4 = 24 zeroes. 1000! has 200 + 40 + 8 + 1 =
249 zeroes. 10000! has 2000 + 400 + 80 + 16 + 3 =
2499 zeroes. Thus the total number of zeroes is 2 +
24 + 249 + 2499 = 2774.
5. 1 A sum of factorials from 1 to 4 will be added as

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 factorial of any number greater than 4 ends in 0. 1! +
2! + 3! + 4! = 33. Hence 1st option.
6. 2 83! – 82! = 82! (83 – 1) = 82 × 82! Since 82 = 2 × 41,
so we need to find the number of 41 contained in 82!
which is 2. So highest power of 82 in 83! - 82! is 3 (As
one 82 is already there). Hence 2nd option.
7. 1 N = 250(50!) The no. of zero = 50/5 + 50/25 = 10 + 2 =
12. Hence 1st option.
8. 4 In 1090!, number of 5s would be 218. Also number of
52 would be 43. The number of 53 would be 8. Also
the number of 54 would be 1. Hence the total number
of zeros would be 218 + 43 + 8 +1 = 270.
9. 2 The first time 18 appears in the numerator is at 6!. So
the remainder equals the sum of remainders from 1!,
2!, 3!, 4! And 5!. This is the same as the remainder
when (1+ 2 + 6 + 24 + 120) = 153 is divided by 18.
Now, 153 = 18 × 8 + 9.
10. 3 No of trailing zeroes is given by the power of 10. This
can be found by checking the power of 2 and 5.The
number of 2s in 40! Is (20 + 10 + 5 + 2 + 1) = 38.The
number of 2s in 2504 = (2 × 53)4 is 4. So, total number
of 2s is 42. Now, The number of 5s in 40! is (8 + 1) =
9. The number of 5s in 2504 = (2 × 53)4 is 12. So, total
number of 5s is 21. As number of 5s is less than
number of 2s, therefore, the number of zeroes will be
21. Hence 3rd option.

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