Title: Number System - Simple Notes for Aptitude
What is a Number System? - A way to write or represent numbers in different
forms. - Used in both maths and computers.
Types of Numbers: 1. Natural Numbers: Counting numbers starting from 1
(1, 2, 3…) 2. Whole Numbers: Natural numbers + 0 (0, 1, 2, 3…) 3.
Integers: Positive and negative whole numbers including 0 (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2…)
4. Rational Numbers: Numbers that can be written as a fraction (like 1/2, -
3/4) 5. Irrational Numbers: Can’t be written as a fraction (like √2, π) 6.
Real Numbers: All rational and irrational numbers 7. Imaginary Numbers:
Involve √(-1), written with ‘i’ (like 3i)
Important Rules:
Divisibility Rules (How to quickly check if one number divides
another): - 2: Last digit is 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 - 3: Sum of digits is divisible by 3 -
4: Last two digits make a number divisible by 4 - 5: Last digit is 0 or 5 - 6:
Divisible by both 2 and 3 - 7: Double the last digit, subtract from the rest.
Repeat if needed. - Example: 203 → 20 - 6 = 14 → 14 is divisible by 7 - 8:
Last three digits form a number divisible by 8 - 9: Sum of digits is divisible by
9 - 10: Last digit is 0 - 11: Alternate sum and subtract digits. Result should
be 0 or divisible by 11. - Example: 121 → 1 - 2 + 1 = 0 → divisible
Even and Odd Rules - Even × Even = Even - Odd × Odd = Odd - Even +
Even = Even - Odd + Odd = Even - Even ± Odd = Odd
Prime Numbers - Have only two factors: 1 and itself (e.g., 2, 3, 5, 7…)
Co-prime Numbers - Two numbers whose HCF is 1 (e.g., 8 and 15)
LCM and HCF - LCM × HCF = Product of the two numbers - Use prime
factorization to find them
Remainders - a % b means the remainder when a is divided by b - For big
powers like a^b % c, find patterns of remainders
Unit Digit (Last digit of big numbers) - To find the unit digit of numbers
like 7^23: 1. Take last digit of base → 7 2. Find repeating cycle: - 2 → [2, 4,
8, 6] - 3 → [3, 9, 7, 1] - 4 → [4, 6] - 5 → [5] - 6 → [6] - 7 → [7, 9, 3, 1] - 8 → [8,
4, 2, 6] - 9 → [9, 1] - 1 → [1] - 0 → [0] 3. Divide the power by cycle length, use
remainder to find unit digit. - Example: 7^23 → cycle = [7, 9, 3, 1] → 23 mod
4 = 3 → 3rd digit = 3
Common Unit Digit Cycles Summary: - 2 → 2, 4, 8, 6 (repeat every 4) - 3
→ 3, 9, 7, 1 - 4 → 4, 6 - 5 → 5 - 6 → 6 - 7 → 7, 9, 3, 1 - 8 → 8, 4, 2, 6 - 9 → 9, 1 -
0→0
Factorial (!) and Trailing Zeros - n! = n × (n−1) × (n−2) × … × 1 -
Number of zeros at end = n/5 + n/25 + n/125 + … (ignore decimals) -
Example: 100! → 100/5 = 20, 100/25 = 4 → total = 24 zeros
Squares from 1 to 30: 1² = 1 2² = 4 3² = 9 4² = 16 5² = 25 6² = 36 7² =
49 8² = 64 9² = 81 10² = 100 11² = 121 12² = 144 13² = 169 14² = 196 15²
= 225 16² = 256 17² = 289 18² = 324 19² = 361 20² = 400 21² = 441 22² =
484 23² = 529 24² = 576 25² = 625 26² = 676 27² = 729 28² = 784 29² =
841 30² = 900
Cubes from 1 to 20: 1³ = 1 2³ = 8 3³ = 27 4³ = 64 5³ = 125 6³ = 216 7³ =
343 8³ = 512 9³ = 729 10³ = 1000 11³ = 1331 12³ = 1728 13³ = 2197 14³ =
2744 15³ = 3375 16³ = 4096 17³ = 4913 18³ = 5832 19³ = 6859 20³ = 8000
Special Numbers - Perfect Number: Sum of factors = number (e.g., 6 →
1+2+3) - Amicable Numbers: Each number is the sum of proper divisors of
the other (220 and 284) - Armstrong Number: Sum of cubes of digits =
number (e.g., 153 = 1³ + 5³ + 3³) - Palindrome: Same forward and
backward (e.g., 121, 1331)
Conversions - Decimal to Binary: Keep dividing by 2 and write remainders
in reverse - Binary to Decimal: Multiply each digit by 2^position - Octal to
Binary: Convert each digit to 3-digit binary - Hex to Binary: Convert each
digit to 4-digit binary
Formulas to Remember: - Sum of first n natural numbers = n(n+1)/2 -
Sum of first n odd numbers = n² - Sum of first n even numbers = n(n+1) -
LCM × HCF = Product of numbers
Tips: - Learn squares up to 30, cubes up to 20 - Memorize divisibility and
remainder tricks - Practice unit digit patterns with powers of 2–9 - Do at least
10 questions daily to increase speed and accuracy