IPMAT Number System Formulas

●​ Number Systems is the most important topic in the

quantitative section.
●​ It is a very vast topic and a significant number of
questions appear in IPMAT every year from this
section.
●​ Learning simple tricks like divisibility rules, HCF and
LCM, prime number and remainder theorems can help
improve the score drastically.
●​ This PDF covers the best short cuts which makes this
topic easy and helps you perform better.

HCF & LCM

●​ HCF * LCM of two numbers = Product of two
numbers
●​ The greatest number dividing a, b and c leaving
remainders of 𝑥1, 𝑥2 and 𝑥3 is the HCF of (𝑎 − 𝑥1),

(𝑏 − 𝑥2) and (𝑐 − 𝑥3)

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●​ The greatest number dividing a, b and c (a<b<c)
leaving the same remainder each time is the HCF of
(c-b), (c-a), (b-a).
●​ If a number, N, is divisible by X and Y and
HCF(X,Y) = 1. Then, N is divisible by X × Y

Prime and Composite Numbers

●​ Prime numbers are numbers with only two factors, 1
and the number itself.
●​ Composite numbers are numbers with more than 2
factors. Examples are 4, 6, 8, 9.
●​ 0 and 1 are neither composite nor prime.
●​ There are 25 prime numbers less than 100.

Properties of Prime numbers

●​ To check if n is a prime number, list all prime factors

less than or equal to √n. If none of the prime factors

can divide n then n is a prime number.

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 𝑝−𝑎
●​ For any integer a and prime number p, 𝑎 is always

divisible by p

●​ All prime numbers greater than 2 and 3 can be written

in the form of 6k+1 or 6k-1

𝑏−1
●​ If a and b are coprime then 𝑎 mod b=1

●​ Theorems on Prime numbers

Fermat's Theorem:
●​ The remainder of a^(p-1) when divided by p is 1, where
p is a prime.

Wilson's Theorem:
●​ Remainder when (p-1)! is divided by p is (p-1) where p
is a prime

●​ Remainder Theorem
●​ If a, b, c are the prime factors of N such that

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110
 𝑝 𝑞 𝑟
N= 𝑎 *𝑏 * 𝑐 Then the number of numbers less than N
and co-prime to N is
1 1 1
ϕ(N)= N (1 - ) (1 - ) (1 - ).
𝑎 𝑏 𝑐

This function is known as the Euler's totient function.

●​ Euler's theorem
●​ If M & N are coprime to each other than remainder
ϕ(𝑁)
when 𝑀 is divided by N is 1.
(Note: If N is prime, the Euler's Theorem becomes the
Fermat's Theorem.)

⎤+⎡⎢ 2 ⎤⎥+⎡⎢ 3 ⎤⎥+….. Ex:

𝑚 𝑚 𝑚
●​ Highest power of n in m! is ⎡ 𝑛
⎣ ⎦ ⎣𝑛 ⎦ ⎣𝑛 ⎦
100 100
Ex: Highest power of 7 in 100! = ⎡ 7 ⎤+⎡ ⎤= 16
⎣ ⎦ ⎣ 49 ⎦

●​ To find the number of zeroes in n! find the highest

power of 5 in n!

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●​ If all possible permutations of n distinct digits are
added together the sum = (n-1)! * (sum of n digits) *
(11111... n times)
𝑝 𝑞 𝑟
●​ If the number can be represented as N = 𝑎 ∗𝑏 ∗ 𝑐 . . .
then number of factors the is (p+1) * (q+1) * (r+1)
𝑝+1 𝑞+1 𝑟+1
𝑎 −1 𝑏 −1 𝑐 −1
●​ Sum of the factors =
𝑎−1
× 𝑏−1
× 𝑐−1

●​ If the number of factors are odd then N is a perfect

square.
●​ If there are n factors, then the number of pairs of
𝑛
factors would be . If N is a perfect square then
2
(𝑛+1)
number of pairs (including the square root) is
2
𝑝 𝑞 𝑟
●​ If the number can be expressed as N = 2 ∗𝑎 ∗ 𝑏 . . .

where the power of 2 is p and a, b are prime numbers

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●​ Then the number of even factors of
N = p (1+q) (1+r)......
●​ The number of odd factors of N = (1+q) (1+r)…
●​ Number of positive integral solutions of the equation
2 2
𝑥 − 𝑦 = 𝑘 is given by
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑘
●​ (If k is odd but not a
2

perfect square)

(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑘)−1

●​ (If k is odd and
2

a perfect square)
𝑘
(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 4
●​ (If k is even and
2

not a perfect square)

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●​
(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 )−1 (If it is even
𝑘
4
2

and a perfect square)

𝑏
●​ Number of digits in 𝑎 = [ b 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑚(a) ] + 1 ;

where m is the base of the number and [.] denotes

greatest integer function.

●​ Even number which is not a multiple of 4, can never be

expressed as a difference of 2 perfect squares.

2
●​ Sum of first n odd numbers is 𝑛

●​ Sum of first n even numbers is n(n+1)

𝑎/2
●​ The product of the factors of N is given by 𝑁 ,

where a is the number of factors

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 2 2 2
●​ The last two digits of 𝑎 , (50 − 𝑎) , (50 + 𝑎) ,
2
(100 − 𝑎) . . . . . are the same.
10𝑛
●​ If the number is written as 2

●​ When n is odd, the last 2 digits are 24.

●​ When n is even, the last 2 digits are 76

Divisibility
●​ Divisibility by 2: Last digit divisible by 2

●​ Divisibility by 4: Last two digits divisible by 4

●​ Divisibility by 8: Last three digits divisible by 8

●​ Divisibility by 16: Last four digit divisible by 16

●​ Divisibility by 3: Sum of digits divisible by 3

●​ Divisibility by 9: Sum of digits divisible by 9

●​ Divisibility by 27: Sum of blocks of 3 (taken right to

left) divisible by 27

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●​ Divisibility by 7: Remove the last digit, double it and

subtract it from the truncated original number. Check

if number is divisible by 7

●​ Divisibility by 11: (sum of odd digits) - (sum of even

digits) should be 0 or divisible by 11

Divisibility properties

●​ For composite divisors, check if the number is divisible

by the factors individually. Hence to check if a number

is divisible by 6 it must be divisible by 2 and 3.

𝑛 𝑛
●​ The equation 𝑎 − 𝑏 is always divisible by a-b.
If n is even it is divisible by a+b. If n is odd it is not

divisible by a+b.
𝑛 𝑛
●​ The equation 𝑎 + 𝑏 , is divisible by a+b if n is odd.

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 If n is even it is not divisible by a+b.

●​ Converting from decimal to base b. Let 𝑅 , 𝑅2 . . . be

1

the remainder left after repeatedly dividing the

number with b. Hence, the number in base b is given

by ... 𝑅2𝑅1 .

●​ Converting from base b to decimal - multiply each

digit of the number with a power of b starting with the

0
rightmost digit and 𝑏 .

●​ A decimal number is divisible by b-1 only if the sum of

the digits of the number when written in base b are

divisible by b-1.

●​ Cyclicity - To find the last digit of a n find the

cyclicity of a. For Ex. if a=2, we see that
1
2 =2

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 2
2 =4
3
2 =8
4
2 = 16
5
2 = 32
𝑡ℎ
Hence, the last digit of 2 repeats after every 4 power.
Hence cyclicity of 2 = 4. Hence if we have to find the
𝑛
last digit of 𝑎 , The steps are:
1.​ Find the cyclicity of a, say it is x.
2.​ Find the remainder when n is divided by x, say
remainder r
𝑥
3.​ Find a r if r>0 and 𝑎 when r=0
2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏)(𝑎 − 𝑏) = 𝑎 − 𝑏 ( )
2 2 2
(
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏) = 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 2𝑎𝑏 )

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 2 2 2
(
●​ (𝑎 − 𝑏) = 𝑎 + 𝑏 − 2𝑎𝑏 )
2
(2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐) = 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 2(𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏𝑐 + 𝑐𝑎) )
2 2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐) = (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 2(𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏𝑐 + 𝑐𝑎))
3 3 2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 ) = (𝑎 + 𝑏) (𝑎 − 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏 )
3 3 2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 ) = (𝑎 + 𝑏) (𝑎 − 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏 )
3 3 2 2
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 ) = (𝑎 + 𝑏) (𝑎 − 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏 )
3 3 3
●​ (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 − 3𝑎𝑏𝑐)
2 2 2
= (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐) (𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 − 𝑎𝑏 − 𝑏𝑐 − 𝑎𝑐)
3 3 3
●​ When a + b + c = 0, then 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑐 = 3𝑎𝑏𝑐

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