Problem solving with factorials
6! 7!  10!
Find other numbers
1 a  b  c
such that a ! b !  c !
10! seconds feels like
it might be a long time.
Using a different unit of time
it is easy to get a feel for
exactly how long it is.
So how long is it?
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Work out the number of zeros
after the last non-zero digit
in 100!
Let N  1! 2! 3! ...  99!100!
This is a very, very big number!
It is possible to remove one of these
100 factorials to leave a product
that is a square number.
N
In other words, is a square number
k!
for a certain value of k .
What is that value of k ?
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 Problem solving with factorials - Answers

Each 0 arises as a result of

multiplying together a 2 and 5.

The 2s are in greater abundance

than the 5s so we need to know
3!  6  5! 3!  6! the number of 5s.

Between 1 and 100 there are

4!  24  23! 4!  24! 20 multiples of 5,
and 4 of these are multiples of 52.

Therefore 100! is divisible by 520+4

and so 100! ends in 24 zeros.

Using n !  n  1!   n !   n  1 and pairing

2

2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 seconds
off:
 3 4  5 6  7  8 3 minutes N  1! 2! 3! ...  99!100!
 6  7 8 3 hours  2
 2

 1!  2   3!  4  ...   99! 100  2

 1! 3! ...  99!   2  4  ...  100 
2
 67 days
 n2   250  50!
 6 weeks
2 n
2
 25
 50!

So remove the 50! and

you are left with a square number.

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 Problem solving with combinations

The diagonals of this convex pentagon

meet in 5 points inside the pentagon.

In how many different ways

can 33 children be divided
into three football teams with
11 children in each team?

In how many points do the diagonals

of a convex n -sided polygon
meet inside the polygon
if no three diagonals intersect
at the same point?

How many triangles can you see?

A girl buys two identical packets of sweets;
each packet contains 12 sweets.

Every time she wants a sweet,

she selects one packet at random
and takes a sweet from it.

After a while she discovers

that one packet is empty.

What is the probability that there are exactly

6 sweets left in the other?
Generalise.

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 Problem solving with combinations - Answers

n C4
33 C11  22 C11
3! Any set of 4 vertices generates
one internal crossing point.

When the girl found that packet A was

empty, for there to be exactly 6 sweets Since each triangle has a vertex at the top
left in packet B she must have been left then you need to choose the other two
looking in packet A for her 19th sweet. vertices from the six on any horizontal
line. Adding on the five above the main
Therefore of the 18 sweets eaten, 12 diagonal gives 4  6 C2  5  65 triangles.
must have come from packet A. This
could have happened in 18 C12 ways
1 How many quadrilaterals?
each with a probability of 18 .
2
So the required probability is How many trapezia?
1
 18 C12  0.07
218

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