Divisibility & Factors
Divisors, number/sum of divisors, factorization, divisibility rules
What you need to know
- Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic. Every whole number is a product of primes in exactly one way (apart from order). We write , where the are different primes and the are their exponents. Example: , and no other primes multiply to .
- Counting divisors. Write for the number of positive divisors of . Then , because a divisor uses anywhere from to copies of each prime : that is choices. Example: has divisors.
- Adding divisors. Write (Greek "sigma") for the sum of the positive divisors. Multiply one sum per prime: . Example: .
- Divisors come in pairs and . So has an odd number of divisors exactly when is a perfect square, since only then does one divisor, , pair with itself. Example: pairs up as , , , , , giving divisors.
- Divisibility rules. Last digit for , , ; last two digits for , ; last three digits for ; digit sum for , ; alternating digit sum (add and subtract the digits in turn) for . Example: is divisible by (ends in ), by (), and by ().
- Counting multiples. From to there are multiples of , where (the floor) means round down. Example: multiples of up to , the last being .
- Combining. If divides both and , then divides for any integers and . Example: divides and , so it divides .
How AMC 10 tests it
- Early problems (1–8) factor the contest year and ask for a sum or a digit fact about its factors.
- Middle problems (10–18) ask "how many positive divisors of are …" (even, perfect squares, multiples of ). That is with limits on the exponents.
- "How many integers up to are divisible by or but not ?" combines floor counting with the Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion (PIE).
- Products of consecutive integers: which number must divide ? One counterexample rules a choice out.
- Late problems go backwards: given or , find the smallest such or count the possibilities.
Standard approaches
- Prime factorize right away; almost every divisor question becomes a question about exponents.
- To count divisors with a property, list the allowed exponents for each prime and multiply. Example: an even divisor of has to twos and to threes: .
- For the smallest with a given number of divisors, write that number as a product , give the largest exponents to the smallest primes, and compare every such product.
- Count multiples with floors, and handle overlaps with the lcm: numbers divisible by both and are the multiples of .
- For a "must divide" claim, test one small example such as .
Worked example
Let be the smallest positive integer with exactly positive divisors. What is the sum of the digits of ?
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
Step 1: the shapes. The divisor count is a product of (exponent ) factors. So write as a product of factors that are each at least , largest first: , , , .
Step 2: smallest number for each shape. Subtract from each factor to get the exponents, and give the biggest exponent to , the next to , then :
- gives .
- gives .
- gives .
- gives .
Step 3: pick the smallest. , and its digit sum is .
The answer is .
Pitfalls
- Forgetting the : has divisors, not .
- Counting and inconsistently. "Proper divisors" leaves out itself, so check the wording. Example: has divisors but proper divisors.
- Assuming the shape with the most factors always gives the smallest ; compare them all. Example: for divisors, gives , but gives .
- Using instead of in PIE when and share a factor. Example: up to , the numbers divisible by both and are the multiples of , not the multiples of .
Traps that recur
- Counting only the 15 primes as failures (answer 35) and missing that n = 4 also fails, or forgetting that n = 1 works. (2019 AMC 10A #25)
- Counting only the n with d(n) = 6 (eight of them) and missing 36 and 48, whose f_1 values 18 and 20 also feed into the fixed point 12. (2021 AMC Fall 10A #23)
- Trying to compute C(52,10) exactly, or using divisibility by 11 (which every choice satisfies) and getting nowhere. (2020 AMC 10B #19)
- Answering 121 by forgetting the word 'distinct', or subtracting only the two obvious cases 1 and 10^10 to get 119. (2019 AMC 10B #19)
- 1.2021 AMC 10B #5
The ages of Jonie's four cousins are distinct single-digit positive integers. Two of the cousins' ages multiplied together give , while the other two multiply to . What is the sum of the ages of Jonie's four cousins?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 2.2019 AMC 10A #2
What is the hundreds digit of
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 3.2008 AMC 10A #3
For the positive integer , let denote the sum of all the positive divisors of with the exception of itself. For example, and . What is ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 4.2000 AMC 10 #1
In the year , the United States will host the International Mathematical Olympiad. Let and be distinct positive integers such that the product . What is the largest possible value of the sum ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 5.2024 AMC 10A #7
The product of three integers is . What is the least possible positive sum of the three integers?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 6.2024 AMC 10B #6
A rectangle has integer length sides and an area of 2024. What is the least possible perimeter of the rectangle?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 7.2024 AMC 10B #8
Let be the product of all the positive integer divisors of . What is the units digit of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 8.2023 AMC 10A #12
How many three-digit positive integers satisfy the following properties?
- The number is divisible by .
- The number formed by reversing the digits of is divisible by .
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 9.2022 AMC 10B #8
Consider the following sets of elements each: How many of these sets contain exactly two multiples of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 10.2021 AMC Fall 10B #6
The least positive integer with exactly distinct positive divisors can be written in the form , where and are integers and is not a divisor of . What is
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 11.2020 AMC 10A #9
A single bench section at a school event can hold either adults or children. When bench sections are connected end to end, an equal number of adults and children seated together will occupy all the bench space. What is the least possible positive integer value of
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 12.2017 AMC 10A #16
There are 10 horses, named Horse 1, Horse 2, , Horse 10. They get their names from how many minutes it takes them to run one lap around a circular race track: Horse runs one lap in exactly minutes. At time 0 all the horses are together at the starting point on the track. The horses start running in the same direction, and they keep running around the circular track at their constant speeds. The least time , in minutes, at which all 10 horses will again simultaneously be at the starting point is . Let be the least time, in minutes, such that at least 5 of the horses are again at the starting point. What is the sum of the digits of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 13.2014 AMC 10B #12
The largest divisor of is itself. What is its fifth largest divisor?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 14.2013 AMC 10B #9
Three positive integers are each greater than , have a product of , and are pairwise relatively prime. What is their sum?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 15.2012 AMC 10B #10
How many ordered pairs of positive integers satisfy the equation
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 16.2011 AMC 10A #10
A majority of the 30 students in Ms. Deameanor's class bought pencils at the school bookstore. Each of these students bought the same number of pencils, and this number was greater than 1. The cost of a pencil in cents was greater than the number of pencils each student bought, and the total cost of all the pencils was . What was the cost of a pencil in cents?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 17.2011 AMC 10B #5
In multiplying two positive integers and , Ron reversed the digits of the two-digit number . His erroneous product was . What is the correct value of the product of and ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 18.2010 AMC 10B #8
A ticket to a school play cost dollars, where is a whole number. A group of 9th graders buys tickets costing a total of , and a group of 10th graders buys tickets costing a total of . How many values for are possible?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 19.2009 AMC 10B #6
Kiana has two older twin brothers. The product of their three ages is 128. What is the sum of their three ages?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 20.2008 AMC 10A #9
Suppose that is an integer. Which of the following statements must be true about ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 21.2004 AMC 10B #4
A standard six-sided die is rolled, and is the product of the five numbers that are visible. What is the largest number that is certain to divide ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 22.2003 AMC 10A #15
What is the probability that an integer in the set is divisible by and not divisible by ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 23.2003 AMC 10A #8
What is the probability that a randomly drawn positive factor of is less than ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 24.2001 AMC 10 #12
Suppose that is the product of three consecutive integers and that is divisible by . Which of the following is not necessarily a divisor of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 25.2025 AMC 10B #8
Emmy says to Max, "I ordered math club sweatshirts today." Max asks, "How much did each shirt cost?" Emmy responds, "I'll give you a hint. The total cost was , where and are digits and ." After a pause, Max says, "That was a good price." What is ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 26.2021 AMC 10B #12
Let . What is the ratio of the sum of the odd divisors of to the sum of the even divisors of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 27.2021 AMC 10B #16
Call a positive integer an uphill integer if every digit is strictly greater than the previous digit. For example, , , and are all uphill integers, but , , and are not. How many uphill integers are divisible by ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 28.2020 AMC 10A #15
A positive integer divisor of is chosen at random. The probability that the divisor chosen is a perfect square can be expressed as , where and are relatively prime positive integers. What is ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 29.2019 AMC 10B #14
The base-ten representation for is , where , , and denote digits that are not given. What is ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 30.2019 AMC 10A #9
What is the greatest three-digit positive integer for which the sum of the first positive integers is a divisor of the product of the first positive integers?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 31.2019 AMC 10A #11
How many positive integer divisors of are perfect squares or perfect cubes (or both)?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 32.2018 AMC 10A #17
Let be a set of integers taken from with the property that if and are elements of with , then is not a multiple of . What is the least possible value of an element in ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 33.2017 AMC 10B #20
The number has over positive integer divisors. One of them is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is odd?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 34.2016 AMC 10B #18
In how many ways can be written as the sum of an increasing sequence of two or more consecutive positive integers?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 35.2014 AMC 10B #17
What is the greatest power of that is a factor of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 36.2009 AMC 10A #19
Circle has radius . Circle has an integer radius and remains internally tangent to circle as it rolls once around the circumference of circle . The two circles have the same points of tangency at the beginning and end of circle 's trip. How many possible values can have?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 37.2005 AMC 10A #15
How many positive cubes divide ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 38.2005 AMC 10A #21
For how many positive integers does evenly divide ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 39.2003 AMC 10B #18
What is the largest integer that is a divisor of
for all positive even integers ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 40.2021 AMC Fall 10A #23
For each positive integer , let be twice the number of positive integer divisors of , and for , let . For how many values of is
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 41.2020 AMC 10B #19
In a certain card game, a player is dealt a hand of cards from a deck of distinct cards. The number of distinct (unordered) hands that can be dealt to the player can be written as . What is the digit ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 42.2019 AMC 10B #19
Let be the set of all positive integer divisors of How many numbers are the product of two distinct elements of
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 43.2018 AMC 10B #19
Joey and Chloe and their daughter Zoe all have the same birthday. Joey is year older than Chloe, and Zoe is exactly year old today. Today is the first of the birthdays on which Chloe's age will be an integral multiple of Zoe's age. What will be the sum of the two digits of Joey's age the next time his age is a multiple of Zoe's age?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 44.2018 AMC 10B #21
Mary chose an even -digit number . She wrote down all the divisors of in increasing order from left to right: . At some moment Mary wrote as a divisor of . What is the smallest possible value of the next divisor written to the right of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 45.2016 AMC 10A #22
For some positive integer , the number has positive integer divisors, including and the number . How many positive integer divisors does the number have?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 46.2015 AMC 10B #23
Let be a positive integer greater than 4 such that the decimal representation of ends in zeros and the decimal representation of ends in zeros. Let denote the sum of the four least possible values of . What is the sum of the digits of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 47.2013 AMC 10B #24
A positive integer is nice if there is a positive integer with exactly four positive divisors (including and ) such that the sum of the four divisors is equal to . How many numbers in the set are nice?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 48.2013 AMC 10A #21
A group of pirates agree to divide a treasure chest of gold coins among themselves as follows. The pirate to take a share takes of the coins that remain in the chest. The number of coins initially in the chest is the smallest number for which this arrangement will allow each pirate to receive a positive whole number of coins. How many coins does the pirate receive?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 49.2009 AMC 10A #25
For , let , where there are zeros between the and the . Let be the number of factors of in the prime factorization of . What is the maximum value of ?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 50.2006 AMC 10B #25
Mr. Jones has eight children of different ages. On a family trip his oldest child, who is 9, spots a license plate with a 4-digit number in which each of two digits appears two times. "Look, daddy!" she exclaims. "That number is evenly divisible by the age of each of us kids!" "That's right," replies Mr. Jones, "and the last two digits just happen to be my age." Which of the following is not the age of one of Mr. Jones's children?
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 51.2005 AMC 10B #22
For how many positive integers less than or equal to is evenly divisible by
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
- 52.2019 AMC 10A #25
For how many integers between and , inclusive, is an integer? (Recall that .)
- A)
- B)
- C)
- D)
- E)
Answers
| # | Answer | The idea it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | Using single digits, 30 can only be 5 × 6. Since 6 is now taken, 24 has to be 3 × 8, not 4 × 6. |
| 2 | A | 15! already contains three 5s and plenty of 2s, so it is a multiple of 1000. So is 20!, and so is their difference. |
| 3 | A | The divisors of 6 other than 6 are 1, 2 and 3, which add up to 6. So each step turns 6 back into 6. |
| 4 | E | Break 2001 into primes: 3, 23 and 29. To make the sum big, make two of the numbers as small as possible, 1 and 3. |
| 5 | B | The word is integers, so negatives are allowed. Two negative numbers keep the product positive but make the sum small: (−1)(−6)(10) = 60 with sum 3. |
| 6 | B | The perimeter is smallest when the two sides are as close as possible. Since 2024 is one less than 45 squared, the sides 44 and 46 work. |
| 7 | D | The divisors of 42 pair up so each pair multiplies to 42. Four pairs make N equal to 42 to the 4th power, which ends in 6. |
| 8 | B | Reversing N moves its first digit to the end. A multiple of 5 ends in 0 or 5, and N cannot start with 0, so N is in the 500s. |
| 9 | B | Every set of 10 holds one or two multiples of 7. There are 142 multiples in 100 sets, so 142 − 100 = 42 sets hold two. |
| 10 | B | 2021 = 43 times 47, so use exponents 46 and 42, the bigger one on 2. The number is 16 times 6 to the 42. |
| 11 | B | Cut a bench into 77 pieces: an adult uses 11 and a child 7, so each adult-child pair uses 18. So 77 times N must be a multiple of 18. |
| 12 | B | Horse k is at the start at multiples of k minutes. So T is the smallest number divisible by at least five of 1 to 10, which is 12. |
| 13 | C | Divisors come in pairs that multiply to N, so the fifth largest divisor is N divided by the fifth smallest. The smallest divisors are 1, 2, 4, 5, 8. |
| 14 | D | Relatively prime numbers share no prime, so all the 2s go in one number, all the 3s in another, all the 5s in the third: 8, 27, 125. |
| 15 | D | Cross-multiply to get M times N = 36. Every divisor of 36 chosen as M gives exactly one N, and 36 has 9 divisors. |
| 16 | B | Factor 1771 cents as 7 × 11 × 23. A majority of 30 is 16 to 30 students, so 23 bought; each bought 7 pencils at 11 cents. |
| 17 | E | Break 161 into factors: it is 7 times 23. The reversed number has two digits, so it was 23. That makes the real number 32 and the other number 7. |
| 18 | E | The ticket price must divide both 48 and 64 evenly. The prices that do are 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16, the numbers that divide 16. |
| 19 | D | The twins share an age, so 128 is Kiana's age times the twins' age twice. Try the few possible twin ages and keep the one where Kiana is younger. |
| 20 | B | Over a common bottom of 6 the expression becomes x over 2. So x must be even, and x = 2 shows it need not be a multiple of 3. |
| 21 | B | Only the bottom face is hidden, so P is 720 divided by that face. Check every possible hidden face and see which factors always survive. |
| 22 | C | Count the 50 even numbers, then take away the even numbers that are also multiples of 3, which are the 16 multiples of 6. That leaves 34. |
| 23 | E | 60 has 12 factors, and every whole number from 1 to 6 divides 60, so 6 of the 12 factors are less than 7. |
| 24 | D | Three numbers in a row always include an even number and a multiple of 3, so the product is a multiple of 42, but not always of 4. |
| 25 | C | The total in cents, ABBBA, is a multiple of 36. The test for 4 makes A even; the test for 9 makes A a multiple of 3. |
| 26 | C | Every even divisor is an odd divisor times 2, 4, or 8. So the even divisors add up to 2 + 4 + 8 = 14 times the odd ones. |
| 27 | C | Uphill numbers cannot end in 0, so a multiple of 5 ends in 5. Then choose digits from 1 to 4 so the digit sum is a multiple of 3. |
| 28 | E | Write 12! as prime powers. A divisor chooses a power of each prime, and it is a square exactly when every chosen power is even. |
| 29 | C | 19! ends in three zeros, so H is 0. Then 19! divides evenly by 9 and by 11, and those two digit tests pin down T and M. |
| 30 | B | Dividing n! by n(n+1)/2 leaves 2 times (n-1)! over n+1. This fails to be whole only when n+1 is a prime, and the largest prime below 1000 is 997. |
| 31 | C | 201 = 3 times 67, so each divisor is a power of 3 times a power of 67. Count squares (25) and cubes (16), then remove the 4 counted twice. |
| 32 | C | A small smallest number bans all its multiples, and leftover pairs like 4 and 8 still clash. Smallest 2 or 3 allows only 5 numbers. |
| 33 | B | 21! has eighteen factors of 2. Divisors split into 19 equal groups by how many 2s they contain, and the odd ones are one group. |
| 34 | E | A run of k consecutive numbers starting at a adds to k(2a + k - 1)/2. So k(2a + k - 1) = 690: count factor pairs of 690. |
| 35 | D | Pull out the obvious 2^1002. Then count the 2s hiding in 5^1002 - 1 by splitting it into (5^501 - 1)(5^501 + 1). |
| 36 | B | Rolling without slipping, circle B has turned 100/r times when it gets back to the start; the same point is touching again only if r divides 100. |
| 37 | E | Write the product as 2^8 times 3^4 times 5^2 times 7. A cube divisor uses each prime a multiple of 3 times, giving 3 times 2 choices. |
| 38 | B | The sum is n(n+1)/2. Dividing 6n by it leaves 12 over (n+1), so n+1 must be a divisor of 12 bigger than 1. |
| 39 | D | Five odd numbers in a row always include a multiple of 3 and a multiple of 5, but not always a multiple of 11. |
| 40 | D | For n up to 50, f1(n) is an even number at most 20. Only 12, 18 and 20 end at 12, so count n with 6, 9 or 10 divisors. |
| 41 | A | The number of hands is divisible by 4 but not 8, and not by 3. The digit tests for 3, 4 and 8 then leave only A = 2. |
| 42 | C | Every divisor is 2 to some power times 5 to some power, both powers 0 to 5. Multiplying two of them adds the powers, giving an 11 by 11 grid. |
| 43 | E | Chloe's age is a multiple of Zoe's exactly when Zoe's age divides their age gap. So the gap has 9 divisors, which makes it 36, Chloe 37 and Joey 38. |
| 44 | C | The next divisor must share the factor 17 or 19 with 323; otherwise n would be a multiple of their product, far too big. |
| 45 | D | The primes 2, 5 and 11 each add a factor of at least 2 to the divisor count 110 = 2 times 5 times 11, leaving nothing for other primes. |
| 46 | B | End zeros come from factors of 5. Doubling n usually just doubles them, so list small n and find the few that triple: 8, 9, 13, 14. |
| 47 | A | A number with exactly four divisors is p^3 or p times q for primes. The divisor sums are (1+p)(1+p^2) or (1+p)(1+q); only 2016 works. |
| 48 | D | Work backwards: each step multiplies by 12 and divides by 1 to 11. Twelves supply every 2 and 3, so the last share needs 5, 5, 7, 11. |
| 49 | B | I_k is 10 to the power k+2, plus 64. Pull out the smaller power of 2 and an odd number remains, except at the tie k = 4. |
| 50 | B | If 5 were an age, the even plate number would end in 0 and look like d0d0. The rule for 9 forces 9090, which 4 does not divide. |
| 51 | C | After simplifying, the question is whether n + 1 divides 2 times (n - 1) factorial. This fails only when n + 1 is an odd prime: 8 times. |
| 52 | D | Counting ways to split n squared people into n teams shows the fraction is a whole number times (n-1)!/n. Only primes and n = 4 fail. |
Problems © Mathematical Association of America (MAA), American Mathematics Competitions. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use. The topic note, tags and key insights are original to this site.