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Worked Examples · Example 4

Q.Using binomial theorem, prove that 6n−5n6^n - 5n always leaves remainder 1 when divided by 25.

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Expand 6n=(1+5)n6^n = (1+5)^n using the binomial theorem; every term after the first two is divisible by 2525, leaving 6n≡1+5n(mod25)6^n \equiv 1 + 5n \pmod{25}, so 6n−5n≡1(mod25)6^n - 5n \equiv 1 \pmod{25}.

The heart of this problem is recognizing that 6=1+56 = 1 + 5, which lets us apply the binomial theorem to split 6n6^n into pieces we can analyze modulo 25=5225 = 5^2. Once expanded, most terms vanish when we care only about the remainder upon division by 2525.

Why does this work? The binomial theorem gives us every term in the expansion, and each term contains a power of 55. Since 25=5225 = 5^2, any term with 525^2 or higher powers of 55 contributes nothing to the remainder. We're left with just the terms involving 505^0 and 515^1, which are exactly 11 and 5n5n.


Proof:

  1. Rewrite 6n6^n to expose the structure. Write 6=1+56 = 1 + 5, so:

6n=(1+5)n6^n = (1 + 5)^n

  1. Apply the binomial theorem. The binomial expansion gives:

(1+5)n=∑k=0n(nk)⋅1n−k⋅5k=∑k=0n(nk)⋅5k(1 + 5)^n = \sum_{k=0}^{n} \binom{n}{k} \cdot 1^{n-k} \cdot 5^k = \sum_{k=0}^{n} \binom{n}{k} \cdot 5^k

Writing out the first few terms explicitly:

6n=(n0)⋅50+(n1)⋅51+(n2)⋅52+(n3)⋅53+⋯+(nn)⋅5n6^n = \binom{n}{0} \cdot 5^0 + \binom{n}{1} \cdot 5^1 + \binom{n}{2} \cdot 5^2 + \binom{n}{3} \cdot 5^3 + \cdots + \binom{n}{n} \cdot 5^n

=1+5n+(n2)⋅25+(n3)⋅125+⋯= 1 + 5n + \binom{n}{2} \cdot 25 + \binom{n}{3} \cdot 125 + \cdots

  1. Identify which terms are divisible by 2525. Notice that every term from k=2k = 2 onwards contains at least 52=255^2 = 25 as a factor:

(nk)⋅5k=(nk)⋅52⋅5k−2=25⋅(nk)⋅5k−2\binom{n}{k} \cdot 5^k = \binom{n}{k} \cdot 5^2 \cdot 5^{k-2} = 25 \cdot \binom{n}{k} \cdot 5^{k-2}

So all these terms are multiples of 2525.

  1. Reduce modulo 2525. …

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