Problem 44071. Smallest n, for n! to have m trailing zero digits

Created by Jihye Sofia Seo

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<div style = "text-align: start; line-height: 20.4333px; min-height: 0px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, monospace; font-style: normal; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space: normal; "><div style="block-size: 102px; display: block; min-width: 0px; padding-block-start: 0px; padding-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 407px 51px; transform-origin: 407px 51px; vertical-align: baseline; "><div style="block-size: 42px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; perspective-origin: 384px 21px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 21px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 378.5px 8px; transform-origin: 378.5px 8px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">For given positive integer n, its factorial often has many trailing zeros, in other words many factors of 10s. In order for n! to have at least "m" trailing zeros, what is the smallest "n" ?</span></span></div><div style="block-size: 21px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; perspective-origin: 384px 10.5px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 10.5px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 376px 8px; transform-origin: 376px 8px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">Example: factorial(10) = 3628800 factorial(9) = 362880 In order to have 2 trailing zeros on factorial, the smallest n is 10.</span></span></div><div style="block-size: 21px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; perspective-origin: 384px 10.5px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 10.5px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 205px 8px; transform-origin: 205px 8px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">Optional: Can you make an efficient algorithm for a very large m?</span></span></div></div></div>

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Last Solution submitted on Jan 27, 2023

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Solution 1135219

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yurenchu on 7 Mar 2017

I think this is (so far) the most efficient solution for large m. It requires at most log(4*m)/log(5) iterations; while the smaller sized solutions that have been suggested require at least 0.8*m iterations (or a very large array). For example, for m = 10^5, this solution takes at most 8 iterations while the other solutions of smaller size require at least 80,000 iterations.

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Problem 44071. Smallest n, for n! to have m trailing zero digits

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Problem 44071. Smallest n, for n! to have m trailing zero digits

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