IMO 1962 · Problem 1

Find the smallest natural number \(n\) which has the following properties:

(a) Its decimal representation has 6 as the last digit.

(b) If the last digit 6 is erased and placed in front of the remaining digits, the resulting number is four times as large as the original number \(n\).

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Answer

\[ \boxed{153846} \]

Solution

The one-digit number \(6\) does not satisfy (b), since moving its digit leaves it unchanged.

For any other candidate, write \[ n=10a+6, \] where \(a\) has exactly \(k\ge1\) decimal digits. Moving the last digit to the front gives \(6\cdot10^k+a\). Thus condition (b) is equivalent to \[ 6\cdot10^k+a=4(10a+6), \] or \[ 13a=2\cdot10^k-8. \] Since \(a\) is an integer, necessarily \[ 10^k\equiv4\pmod{13}. \]

The first five positive powers of \(10\) have residues \[ 10,\ 9,\ 12,\ 3,\ 4\pmod{13}, \] respectively. Consequently, \(k\ge5\), so any solution has at least six digits.

For \(k=5\), the equation uniquely determines \[ a=\frac{2\cdot10^5-8}{13}=15384, \] which indeed has five digits. Hence \[ n=153846. \] Moving its last digit to the front gives \[ 615384=4\cdot153846, \] so this number satisfies both conditions.

There is no solution with fewer digits, this is the unique six-digit solution, and every number with more digits is larger. Therefore the required minimum is \(\boxed{153846}\).

The solution was checked against John Scholes' IMO solution archive (Kalva).