Question 1147094:  Numbers less than 4000 are formed from the digits 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9, without repetition.How many of them are divisible by 3? 
 Found 2 solutions by  Alan3354, greenestamps: Answer by Alan3354(69443)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! Numbers less than 4000 are formed from the digits 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9, without repetition.How many of them are divisible by 3? 
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Step 1, find the numbers less than 4000. 
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Step 2, use the fact that if the sum of the digits is a multiple of 3 it's divisible by 3. 
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There's no algebraic way to do step 1. 
I don't need the practice.  You might. 
 
 Answer by greenestamps(13215)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! 
  
You can get some practice in some good mathematical techniques by working through this problem.
  
We are concerned with divisibility by 3; so we can do the analysis in modular arithmetic, mod 3.  The digits we have, and their values mod 3, are
 
  digit  mod 3
 --------------
    1      1
    3      0
    5      2
    8      2
    9      0 
Since a number is divisible 3 if and only if the sum of its digits is divisible by 3, we want combinations of the values of the given digits, mod 3, that are divisible by 3.
  
(1) 1-digit numbers: 
The single digit has to be equal to 0 mod 3. 
Those digits are 3 and 9. 
It's a bit absurd to ask the question here; but it follows a fixed procedure: how many 1-digit numbers can you make using either of those digits?
  
(2) 2-digit numbers: 
There are two ways to get a combination of 2 digits that is equal to 0 mod 3: 0 and 0; or 1 and 2. 
The 2-digit combinations with the given digits are 3 and 9; or 1 and 5, or 1 and 8. 
How many 2-digit numbers can you make using any of those combinations of digits?
  
(3) 3-digit numbers: 
There is only one way to get a combination of 3 digits that is equal to 0 mod 3: 0, 1, and 2. 
The 3-digit combinations with the given digits are 3-1-5, 3-1-8, 9-1-5, and 9-1-8. 
How many 3-digit numbers can you make using any of those combinations of digits?
  
(4) 4-digit numbers: 
Note that the sum of the mod 3 values of all five of the given digits is 2 mod 3.  That means the digit that must be left out of a combination of 4 digits is one of those whose value mod 2 is 2; those digits are 5 and 8. 
So the 4-digit combinations of digits are 1-3-5-9 and 1-3-8-9. 
How many 4-digit numbers can you make using any of those combinations of digits?  Note in this case that the problem requires that the 4-digit number has to be less than 4000, so the leading digit must be either the 1 or the 3.
  
 
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