Indices

Find some triples of whole numbers a, b and c such that a^2 + b^2 + c^2 is a multiple of 4. Is it necessarily the case that a, b and c must all be even? If so, can you explain why?

The number 12 = 2^2 × 3 has 6 factors. What is the smallest natural number with exactly 36 factors?

Is it true that $99^n$ has 2n digits and $999^n$ has 3n digits? Investigate!

Which is the bigger, 9^10 or 10^9 ? Which is the bigger, 99^100 or 100^99 ?

Solving the equation x^3 = 3 is easy but what about solving equations with a 'staircase' of powers?

What are the possible remainders when the 100-th power of an integer is divided by 125?

Show without recourse to any calculating aid that 7^{1/2} + 7^{1/3} + 7^{1/4} < 7 and 4^{1/2} + 4^{1/3} + 4^{1/4} > 4 . Sketch the graph of f(x) = x^{1/2} + x^{1/3} + x^{1/4} -x

Which is the biggest and which the smallest of $2000^{2002}, 2001^{2001} \text{and } 2002^{2000}$?

Find the smallest positive integer N such that N/2 is a perfect cube, N/3 is a perfect fifth power and N/5 is a perfect seventh power.

a) A four digit number (in base 10) aabb is a perfect square. Discuss ways of systematically finding this number. (b) Prove that 11^{10}-1 is divisible by 100.