How many zeros are there at the end of 100!?

1 Answer
Jun 28, 2016

#24#

Explanation:

There are plenty of factors #2# in #100!#, so the question is how many factors #5# are there?

#100!# has #100/5=20# terms divisible by #5^1#, namely #5, 10, 15, 20,..., 100#

It has #100/25 = 4# terms divisible by #5^2#, namely #25, 50, 75, 100#.

So there are a total of #20+4 = 24# factors #5# in #100!#.

Hence #100!# is divisible by #10^24# and no greater power of #10#.

So #100!# ends with #24# zeros.

A computer tells me that:

#100! = 93,326,215,443,944,152,681,699,238,856,266,700,490,715,#
#968,264,381,621,468,592,963,895,217,599,993,229,915,608,941,463,#
#976,156,518,286,253,697,920,827,223,758,251,185,210,916,864,000,#
#000,000,000,000,000,000,000#