Solution
Related Formula
Legendre's Formula for exponent of prime p in n!: Eₚ(n!) = [ (n)/(p) ] + [ (n)/(p²) ] + [ (n)/(p³) ] +where [·] represents the greatest integer function.
Core Logic
To find the highest power of 40 dividing 60!, we first prime factorize 40.
40 = 2³ × 5Thus, 40ⁿ = 2³ⁿ × 5ⁿ. We need to find the exponents of 2 and 5 in 60! and restrict n to satisfy both components simultaneously.
Step 1: Exponent of 2 in 60!
E₂(60!) = [(60)/(2)] + [(60)/(4)] + [(60)/(8)] + [(60)/(16)] + [(60)/(32)] = 30 + 15 + 7 + 3 + 1 = 56Thus, 60! contains 2⁵⁶.
Step 2: Exponent of 5 in 60!
E₅(60!) = [(60)/(5)] + [(60)/(25)]= 12 + 2 = 14
Thus, 60! contains 5¹⁴.
Step 3: Calculating Limiting Factor
From the factors, 60! can be written as 2⁵⁶ × 5¹⁴ × K.
We need to construct factors of 40 = 2³ × 5. From 2⁵⁶, we can form (2³)¹⁸ with a remainder, so 2³ limits at 18. From 5¹⁴, we can form 5¹⁴, so 5 limits at 14.
The limiting factor is the exponent of 5, which is 14.
Therefore, the maximum value of n is 14.
Pattern Recognition
For a composite base C = p₁a₁ p₂a₂, the highest power is ( [ Ep₁(n!)a₁ ], [ Ep₂(n!)a₂ ] ). Generally, the larger prime (here 5) dictates the bottleneck.
Chapter Mix
Class 11 Maths: Permutations and Combinations Class 11 Maths: Number Theory