Equal Length Powers
How many positive integers $n$ exist for which $n^2$ has the same number of digits as $n^3$?
Problem
How many positive integers $n$ exist for which $n^2$ has the same number of digits as $n^3$?
Student Solutions
Answer: 3 (1, 2 and 4)
Listing up from 1
$n$ | $n^2$ | $n^3$ | Same number of digits? |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 1 | yes |
2 | 4 | 8 | yes |
3 | 9 | 27 | no |
4 | 16 | 64 | yes |
5 | 25 | 125 | no |
... | 2-digit | 3-digit | no |
10 | 100 | 1000 | no |
... | 3-digit | 4-digit | no |
When $n\gt$10, multiplying by $n$ will increase the number of digits, so $n^3$ (which is $n^2\times n$) will have more digits than $n^2.$
Counting down from 10
When $n\ge$10, multiplying by $n$ will increase the number of digits, so $n^3$ (which is $n^2\times n$) will have more digits than $n^2.$
Numbers less than 10 have squares less than 100 (1 or 2 digits).
Cubes less than 100: 4$^3$ = 64, 5$^3$ = 125
1, 2, 3 and 4 have cubes less than 100
1, 2, 3 have 1-digit squares but 4$2$ = 16 also has 2 digits.
Cubes less than 10: 2$^3$ = 8, 3$^3$ = 27
1 and 2 have cubes and squares less than 10 (1 digit)
So 1, 2 and 4 are the only possibilites.