Aptitude Advanced

Number System innovation

eBook 01
 Table of Contents

Chapter Topic Page

No. No.
1. Types of Numbers 1
2. Operations on Odd & Even Numbers 5
3. Tests of Divisibility 7
4. Important Results on Numbers 9
5. Shortcuts in Multiplication & 11
Division
6. Solved Examples 14
7. Tables, Squares and Cubes to be 18
remembered
8. Unit Digit of a Number 21
9. Some summation formulae 25
10. 10 FACTs about Factors 27
Chapter 1: Types of Numbers

Natural Numbers: 1,2,3,4 are called natural numbers or

positive integers.
Whole Numbers: 0,1,2,3 are called whole numbers.
Whole numbers include “0”.
Integers: -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 are called integers.
Negative Integers: -1, -2, -3 are called negative integers.
Positive Fractions: 2 3 , 4 5 , 7 8 are called positive

fractions.
Negative Fractions: The numbers -6 8,7 19,12 47,...are

called negative fractions.

Rational Numbers: Any number which is a positive or
negative integer or fraction, or zero is called a rational
number. A rational number is one which can be
expressed in the following formata b, where b  0 and
a & b are positive or negative integers.
Irrational Numbers: An infinite non-recurring decimal
number is known as an irrational number. These
numbers cannot be expressed in the form of a proper
fraction a/b where b  0., e.g. 2 , 5 , , etc.

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Surds: Any root of a number, which cannot be exactly
found is called a surd. Essentially, all surds are irrational
numbers. e.g. √2,√5 etc.
Even Numbers: The numbers, which are divisible by two
are called even numbers,e.g., 4, 0, 2, 16 etc.
Odd Numbers: The numbers, which are not divisible by
two are odd numbers, e.g., 7, -15, 5, 9 etc.
Prime Numbers: Those numbers, which are divisible only
by themselves and 1, are called prime numbers. In other
words, a number, which has only two factors 1 and itself,
is called a prime number. e.g. 2, 3, 5, 7, etc.
2 is the only even prime number.
There are 25 prime numbers upto 100. These are 2, 3, 5, 7,
11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73,
79, 83, 89 & 97. These should be learnt by heart.
When two numbers HCF is 1 they are considered to be
prime to each other. e.g. 5 and 21 are prime to each
other. In other words, 5 and 21 are co-prime.
Remember: A number Z can be written as the product of
two factors, which are co-prime to each other, in 2Y – 1
ways, where Y is the number of different prime factors
of Z.
E.g. Z = 120 = 23 31 51. Now here the number of
different prime factors of 120 is 3 (2, 3 & 5).

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So the value of Y is 3. 120 can be written as the product
of two numbers which are co-prime to each other as 23 -
1
. These are 15  8, 24  5, 40  3, 120  1
To Check whether a number is prime, e.g. 113, we do not
need to check all the factors below 113. The square of 10
is 100 and that of 11 is 121. Therefore, test if any of the
prime numbers less than 11 is a factor of 113. The prime
numbers less then 11 are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and none of these
is a factor of 113, so 113 is a prime number. In case it is
divisible by any of those prime numbers, then the number
is not prime.
Composite Number: A number, which has factors other
than itself and 1, is called a composite number. e.g. 9,
16, 25....or the number which has more than two factors
are called composite number. So, 4 is the first composite
number.
1 is neither a composite number nor a prime number.
Consecutive Numbers: Numbers arranged in increasing
order and differing by 1 is called consecutive numbers.
e.g. 4, 5, 6, 7
Real Numbers: The sets of natural numbers, integers,
whole numbers, rational numbers and irrational numbers
constitute the set of real numbers. Points can represent
every real number on a number line.

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Perfect Numbers: If the sum of all the factors of a
number excluding the number itself happens to be equal
to the number, then the number is called a perfect
number. 6 is the first perfect number. The factors of 6
are 1, 2, 3 & 6. Leaving 6 the sum of other factors of 6 are
equal to 6. The next three perfect numbers after 6 are 28,
496 and 8128.

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Chapter 2: Operations on Odd & Even
Numbers
 Addition or subtraction of any two odd numbers
will always result in an even number or zero.
For example: 1 + 3 = 4; 5 - 3 = 2.
 Addition or subtraction of any two even numbers
will always result in an even number or zero.
For example: 2 + 4 = 6; 12 - 4 = 8.
 Addition or subtraction of an odd number from an
even number will result in an odd number.
For example: 4 + 3 = 7; 10 - 3 = 7.
 Addition or subtraction of an even number from an
odd number will result in an odd number.
For example: 3 + 4 = 7; 5 - 2 = 3.
 Multiplication of two odd numbers will result in an
odd number. For example: 3  3 = 9.
 Multiplication of two even numbers will result in an
even number. For example: 2  4 = 8.
 Multiplication of an odd number by an even
number or vice versa will result in an even number.
For example: 3  2 = 6.

 An odd number is raised to an odd or an even

power is always odd.

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  An even number is raised to an odd or an even
power is always even.
The standard form of writing a number m  10n where m
lies between 1 and 10 and n is an integer.

For example: 0.89713  8.9713/101. 8.9713  10-1.

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Chapter 3: Tests of Divisibility

1. By 2 - A number is divisible by 2 when its unit’s

place is 0 or divisible by 2 e.g. 120, 138.
2. By 3 – A number is divisible by 3, in case the sum
of its digits is divisible by 3 e.g. 19272 is divisible
by 3 as the sum of the digits of 19272 is 21, which
is divisible by 3.
3. By 4 - A number is divisible by 4 when the last two
digits of the number are 0s or are divisible by 4 e.g.
145896, 128, 18400
4. By 5 - A number is divisible by 5 if its unit’s digit is
5 or 0., e.g. 895, 100
5. By 6 - A number is divisible by 6 if it is divisible by
both 2 and 3.,i.e. the number should be an even
number and the sum of its digits should be
divisible by 3.
6. By 8 - A number is divisible by 8 if the last three
digits of the number are 0s or are divisible by 8.
e.g. 135128, 45000
7. By 9 - A number is divisible by 9 if the sum of its
digits is divisible by 9. e.g. 810, 92754
8. By 11 - A number is divisible by 11 if the difference
between the sum of the digits at the odd places

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 and the sum of the digits at the even places of the
number is either 0 or a multiple of 11.
e.g. 121, 65967. In the first case 1+1 - 2 = 0. In the
second case 6+9+7 = 22 and 5+6 = 11 and the
difference is 11. Therefore, both these numbers are
divisible by 11.
9. By 12 - A number is divisible by 12 if it is both
divisible by 3 and by 4. i.e., the sum of the digits
should be divisible by 3 and the last two digits
should be divisible by 4. e.g. 144, 8136.
10. By 15 – A number is divisible by 15 if it is divisible
by both 5 and 3.
11. By 25 – 2358975 is divisible by 25 if the last two
digits of 2358975 are divisible by 25 or if the last
two digits are 0.
12. The number of factors of a number say 48, can be
found by knowing how many prime factors it has.
48 has four 2s and one 3.
(2431 )
So 48 has  (4 + 1) (1 + 1) = 10.
Factors of 48 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 & 48.
If J = px × qy ×rz, (p, q &r are prime) then J has
(x + 1)(y +1)(z +1) factors.

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Chapter 4: Important Results on Numbers
1. The sum of 5 successive whole numbers is always
divisible by 5.

2. The product of 3 consecutive natural numbers is

divisible by 6.

3. The product of 3 consecutive natural numbers, the

first of which is an even number is divisible by 24.

4. The sum of a two-digit number and the number

formed by reversing its digits is divisible by 11. E.g.
28 + 82 = 110, which is divisible by 11. At the same
time, the difference between those numbers will be
divisible by 9. e.g. 82 – 28 = 54, which is divisible
by 9.
n(n  1)
5. n = , n is the sum of first n natural
2
numbers.
n(n  1)(2n  1)
6. n2 = , n2 is the sum of first n perfect
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squares.

e.q. what is the value of P, where P = 12  2 2  ....10 2 ?

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 You have to find the sum of first 10 perfect
squares.

The above mentioned formula is to be applied.

10 11 21
102 =  385.
6

n 2 (n  1)2
7. n3 = = (n)2, n3 is the sum of first n
4
perfect cubes.

8. xn + yn = (x + y) (xn-1 - xn-2.y + xn-3.y2 - ... +yn-1) when n is

odd. Therefore, when n is odd, xn + ynis divisible by x
+ y.

e.g. 33 + 23 = 35 and is divisible by 5.

9. xn - yn = (x + y) (xn-1 - xn-2.y + ... yn-1) when n is even.

Therefore, when n is even, xn - ynis divisible by x + y.

e.g 72 - 32 = 40, which is divisible by 10.

10. xn - yn = (x - y) (xn-1 + xn-2.y + .... + yn-1) for both odd

and even n. Therefore, xn - yn is divisible by x - y.

e.g. 94 - 24 = 6545 which is divisible by 7.

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Chapter 5: Shortcuts in Multiplication &
Division

1. To multiply by 9, 99, 999 etc.

To multiply a number  by 9, multiply a by 10 and
subtract from the result.

Algebraically,   9 =   (10 - 1) = 10  - .

Similarly, for 99, 999 etc multiply a by 100, 1,000

respectively.

e.g 745  99 = 745  100 - 745

= 74,500 - 745 = 73,755.

2. To multiply by 5 or powers of 5
a. To multiply by 5, multiply by 10 and divide by 2.

e.g. 137  5 = 1,370

= 685
2

b. To multiply by 25, multiply by 100 and divide

by 4.

e.g. 24  25 = 24 
100
= 2, 400 = 600
4 4

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 c. To multiply by 125, multiply by 1,000 and
then divide by 8

e.g. 48 125 = 48 = = 6,000

1, 000 48, 000
 
8 8

d. To multiply by 625, multiply by 10,000 & then

divide by 16

e.g. 64 625 = 64 = 40,000

10, 000
 
16

3. Multiplication of numbers whose unit digits add up to

10 and have the same 10th place
Let us take an example - 47  43

Multiply the unit’s digits = 7  3 = 21

Then multiply 4, which is the tenth’s digit with 5

which 1 + 4 = 20. Therefore, the answer is 2021

The corollary would be finding the squares of

numbers ending with 5

e.g. 352 (3  4), 25 = 1225

4. Division by 5 and higher powers of 5

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 To divide by 5, 25, 125, 625 etc. multiply the
number by 2, 4, 8, 16 and cut off from the right 1, 2,
3, 4 digits respectively to get the quotient. To get
the remainder, divide the cut off figure by 2, 4, 8, 16
respectively.

e.g. 3458  25 = 3458 × 4 / 100 = 138.32.

Therefore, the quotient is 138 & the remainder is 32

 4 = 8.

5. Finding the remainder when a number is divided by 9

Add up the digits of the number rejecting 9s. Add
up the digits of the resulting answer and continue
this process till you get a single digit number,
which will be remainder.

e.g. 3684799  3 + 6 + 8 + 4 + 7  28  2 + 8  1.

Therefore, the remainder is 1.

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Chapter 6: Solved Examples

Ex. 1. Find the greatest 5-digit number, which is a

multiple of 23.

To solve such a question, take the greatest five-

digit number, which is 99999.

Divide this number by 23 and get the remainder as

18. Simply because the remainder is 18 if you
subtract 18 from the number the remaining number
will be a multiple of 23. So the greatest such
number will be 99999 – 18 = 99981.

Ex. 2. Find the smallest 7-digit number, which is a

multiple of 19.

To solve such question take the smallest seven-

digit number, which is 1000000.

Divide this number by 19 and get the remainder as

11.

Here if you subtract 11 from the number, no doubt

you will get a multiple of 19. But because you have
already taken the smallest seven-digit number, if
you subtract anything from it you will get a six-digit

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 number. Think it otherwise, that instead of
subtracting you should add something.

Now, what should be added to 11(the remainder)

so that it becomes a multiple of 19, i.e. 19 – 11 =
8. 8 should be added to the number to make it
divisible by 19, i.e. 1000000 + 8 = 1000008 is the
answer.

Ex. 3. Which letter should replace the $ in the number

2347$98, so that it becomes a multiple of 9.

As you know that if the sum of all the digits is

divisible by 9, then the number is divisible by 9.

Now sum of the given digits is 2 + 3 + 4 + 7 + 9 + 8

= 33 + $.

Now think the next multiple of 9 after 33, i.e. 36.

This means you add 3 to this. The value of $ is 3

Ex. 4. In a party there are 25 persons are present. If each

of them shakes hand with all the other persons. In
total how many handshakes will take place?

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 This question you can solve with the help of
combinations.

Otherwise, you can apply other logic.

Out of 25 persons, the first person will shake hand

with 24 persons.

The second person will shake hand with 23

persons (because he has already shaken hand with
the first person). The third person with 22 persons
and so on. The second last person shakes hand
with only one person. And last will shake hand with
none (because he has already shaken hand with all
persons). Net you have to add all the natural
numbers from 1 to 24, i.e. 24. 24 = 24  25/2 =
300 handshakes.

Ex. 5. Find the prime factors of 1500.

The prime factor of 1500 are 2  2  3  5  5  5.

So the answer is 22 3153. So it has three
different prime factors, i.e. 2, 3 & 5.

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Ex. 6. What will be the number of zeroes at the end of the
product of the first 100 natural numbers?

In this kind of a question, you need to find greatest

power of 5, which can divide the product of the first
100 natural numbersa multiple of 5 multiplied by
any even number, gives you a zero. Now divide 100
by 5 and take 20 as a quotient. Then divide 20 (the
quotient) by 5 and get the new quotient 4, which
further cannot be divided by 5. The sum of all such
quotient gives you the greatest power of 5, which
can divide that number. The sum is 24 and this is
the number of zeroes at the end of the product of
the first 100 natural numbers.

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Chapter 7: Tables, Squares and Cubes to be
remembered

As you have decided to improve your quantitative skills,

but keep in mind you cannot be good at Math unless you
are good at calculations. Take this as the starting point
and make it the most important part of your preparation.

Tables:

Learn all these tables by heart and see how you improve
your calculation speed.

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10

12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120

13 26 39 52 65 78 91 104 117 130

14 28 42 56 70 84 98 112 126 140

15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150

16 32 48 64 80 96 112 128 144 160

17 34 51 68 85 102 119 136 153 170

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 18 36 54 72 90 108 126 144 162 180

19 38 57 76 95 114 133 152 171 190

21 42 63 84 105 126 147 168 189 210

23 46 69 92 115 138 161 184 207 230

24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240

27 54 81 108 135 162 189 216 243 270

29 58 87 116 145 174 203 232 261 290

37 74 111 148 185 222 259 296 333 370

Squares:
Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Z2 1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81 100

Z 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Z2 121 144 169 196 225 256 289 324 361 400

Z 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Z2 441 484 529 576 625 676 729 784 841 900

Z 31 32 33 34 35

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Z2 961 1024 1089 1156 1225

Cubes:
Y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
3
Y 1 8 27 64 125 216 343 512
Y 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
3
Y 729 1000 1331 1728 2197 2744 3375 4096
Y 17 18 19 20 21 22
3
Y 4913 5832 6859 8000 9261 10648

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Chapter 8: Unit Digit of a Number

The concept that revolves around finding the unit digit of

a number uses the basics of the number system.
Learning this concept means you have strengthened
your basic concepts.

The concept of the unit digit can be learned by figuring

out the unit digits of all the single digit numbers from 0 -
9 when raised to certain powers. The first learning in that
for you will be that these numbers can be broadly
classified into three categories for this purpose:

Digits 0, 1, 5 & 6:

When we observe the behaviour of these digits, they all

have the same unit’s digit as the number itself when
raised to any power, i.e. 0n = 0, 1n =1, 5n = 5, 6n = 6. So, it
becomes simple to understand this logic.

e.g. Finding the Unit digit of following numbers:

185563 = 5; 2716987 = 1; 15625369 = 6; 190654789321 = 0.

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Digits 4 & 9:

Both these numbers are perfect squares and also have

the same behaviour with respect to their unit digits, i.e.
they have a cyclicity of only two different digits as their
unit’s digit.

Have a look at how the powers of 4 operate:

41 = 4, 42 = 16, 43 = 64 and so on
Hence, the power cycle of 4 contains only 2 numbers 4 &
6, which appear in case of odd and even powers
respectively.
Likewise 91 = 9, 92 = 81, 93 = 729 and so on.
Hence, the power cycle of 9 also contains only 2
numbers 9 & 1, which appear in case of odd and even
powers respectively.
So broadly these can be remembered in even and odd
only, i.e. 4odd = 4 and 4even = 6 and likewise 9odd = 9 and
9even = 1.

e.g. Finding the Unit digit of following numbers:

189562589743 = 9 (since power is odd); 279698745832 =
1(since power is even);

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154258741369 = 4 (since power is odd); 19465478932 = 6
(since power is even).

Digits 2, 3, 7 & 8:

These numbers have a power cycle of 4 different

numbers.

21 = 2, 22 = 4, 23 = 8 & 24 = 16 and after that it starts

repeating.
So, the cyclicity of 2 has 4 different numbers 2, 4, 8, 6.

31 = 3, 32 = 9, 33 = 27 & 34 = 81 and after that it starts

repeating.
So, the cyclicity of 3 has 4 different numbers 3, 9, 7, 1.

7 and 8 follow similar logic.

So these four digits, i.e. 2, 3, 7 and 8 have a unit digit
cyclicity of four steps.

To summarise, we can say that since the power cycle of

these numbers has 4 different digits, we can divide the
power by 4, find the remaining power and calculate the
unit’s digit using that.

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e.g. Find the Unit digit of 287562581

The first observation for this question: the unit digit

involved is 7, which has a four-step cycle. You need to
divide the power by 4 and obtain the remaining power.
Doing so, you get the result as 1. Now the last step is to
find the unit’s digit in this power of the base, i.e. 71 has
the unit’s digit as 7, which will become the answer.

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Chapter 9: Some summation formulae

i) Sum of first n natural numbers:

[1 + 2 + 3 + … … … + (n – 1) + n]

1=1 ; 1+2=3 ; 1+2+3=6 ; 1+2+3+4=10

The formula applied to calculate this sum is n =

n(n+1)/2

Ex. 1.What would be the sum of the first 15 natural

numbers?

Sol: Sum = (15 × 16)/2 = 120.

ii) Sum of first n odd natural numbers:

[1 + 3 + 5 + … … … + (2n-1)]; Here, (2n-1) represents

an odd number where n is a natural number.

The formula to calculate the sum of the first n odd

natural numbers, i.e.(2n – 1) = n2.

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Ex. 2. What is the sum (1+3+5+……..+79)?

Sol: 79 can be written as (2 × 39) +1. So, 79 is the 39th

odd number. To, find the sum you need to find the
square of 39, i.e. 1521.

iii) Sum of first n even natural numbers:

[2+4+6+………+2n]; 2n represents an even number,

where n is a natural number.

The formula to calculate the sum of the first n even

natural numbers, i.e.(2n) = n (n + 1).

Ex. 3.Find the sum (2+4+6+…………+88).

Sol: 88 can be written as (2 × 44). So, 88 is the 44th even

number. You need to find out the sum of the first
44 even numbers i.e. 44 × (44 +1) = 44 × 45 = 1980.

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Chapter 10: FACTs about Factors
Factors are an essential part of Number System, and in
this article, we will understand the basics of factors, and
some tips related to them that can be used in the
questions.

Factors of a number N refer to all the numbers which

divide N completely. Those are also called divisors of a
number.

Ex. 1. Find the numbers of divisors of 432?

Sol: Firstly, complete the prime factorisation of the

number, i.e. 432=24 ×33. Now, in order to make
factors of 432, either we will choose 2’s power or
3’s power or combination of both. The number of
2s in 432 can be chosen in 5 ways (the power of 2
can be taken from 0 till 4) and the number of 3s
can be chosen in 4 ways (the power of 3 can be
taken from 0 till 3). So the total number of factors
of 432 is = 5× 4 = 20.

Let us learn this concept algebraically:

For any number N = pa qbrc……..where p, q, r are distinct

primes.

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No. of factors = (a+1)(b+1)(c+1)

Ex. 2. Find the numbers of divisors of N=23 × 32 × 53.

Sol: Any combination of 2’s, 3’s or 5’s power will give

the required factor. So, there are 4×3×4= 48
factors.

Ex. 3. How many factors of N= 22×33×51 are odd?

Sol: In this question, we only need to determine the odd

factors of the given number. The factors will be
odd only, if they do not have any 2 in it or those are
not divisible by 2. So all you need to do is neglect
the powers of 2 and rest of the steps remain the
same as in above examples . The power of 3 can
be selected in 4 ways and the power of 5 can be
selected in 2 ways. Hence the total number of
factors is 4 × 2 = 8.

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