Finding the number of digits in repunit

498 Views Asked by At

Find the number of digits in the smallest repunit divisible by $19$.

I believe a repunit number, with $N$ digits, is of the form $ \sum_{k=0}^{N-1} 10^k = \frac{10^N -1}{10-1} = \frac{10^N - 1}{9}, $ and is divisible by $n$ if $10^N - 1 \equiv 0 \pmod{9n}.$ The solution should be the smallest number N that satisfies $10^N -1 \equiv 0 \pmod{9 \cdot 19}.$ Can somebody finish this off?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

$10\equiv1\pmod9$, so $10^N\equiv 1 \pmod9$ for all $N\in\mathbb N$,

so your question becomes what is the smallest number $N$ satisfying $10^N\equiv1\pmod{19}$.

By Fermat's little theorem, we know $10^{18}\equiv1\pmod{19}$;

we just have to show that $10^6\not\equiv1\pmod{19}$ and $10^{9}\not\equiv1\pmod{19}$.

Method 1

$10^2\equiv5\bmod19$, so $10^3\equiv50\equiv12\bmod19$, so $10^6\equiv144\equiv11$, and $10^9\equiv132\equiv18\bmod19$.

Method 2

$10^6-1=(10^3+1)(10^3-1)=(7\times11\times13)(27\times37)$ is not divisible by $19$.

By Euler's criterion, $10^9-1\equiv\left(\dfrac{10}{19}\right)=\left(\dfrac{2}{19}\right)\left(\dfrac{5}{19}\right)=(-1)\left(\dfrac45\right)=-1\pmod{19}$.