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Math Article

1) Divisibility rules provide easy tests to determine if a number is divisible by another number without needing to perform long division. 2) The document outlines the divisibility rules for numbers up to 11 by examining patterns in the digit places and remainders when dividing powers of 10. 3) More complex rules like those for 7 and 11 involve splitting the number into groups of digits and taking sums or differences based on the number being tested for divisibility.

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Jethro Kuan
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28 views

Math Article

1) Divisibility rules provide easy tests to determine if a number is divisible by another number without needing to perform long division. 2) The document outlines the divisibility rules for numbers up to 11 by examining patterns in the digit places and remainders when dividing powers of 10. 3) More complex rules like those for 7 and 11 involve splitting the number into groups of digits and taking sums or differences based on the number being tested for divisibility.

Uploaded by

Jethro Kuan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Factorising a number has often proven useful in solving math problems, from the difficult, to

the easy. But many people do not actually know the easiest method to prime factorise a
number, or to test if a number is divisible by such a prime.

I believe you all know, that for a number to be even, the final digit must be a 0,2,4,6 or 8.
This is actually one of the set of rules, which we call divisibility rules. It is sufficient to
understand the divisibility rules for all numbers until 11, and for powers of 2.

´ xyz . This number is equivalent to


Consider a n-digit number abc ...
n n−1 n−2 n n
10 a+10 b+10 c +...+100 x+10 y + z . We see that 10 n=2 × 5 ≡ 0(mod 2). Then

10n a+10 n−1 b+10 n−2 c +...+100 x+10 y + z ≡ z (mod 2)

So we arrive at the conclusion that b has to be an even number or be equal to zero. If it were
a three digit number, the result would be the same, because 10nx is always divisible by 2.

We find that a divisibility rule for 2n can be obtained, as 10n ≡0 (mod 2 n) . As such, any digit
multiplied by a power higher than that can be removed when applying a modulus against 2.
For a number that is divisible by 2n, we just have to look at the last n digits of the number. if
the number formed by the last n digits is divisible by 2n, then the original number would be
divisible by 2n. For example, to check if 12432412448
´ is divisible by 8, we just need to look at
the number formed by the last three digits, 448. We see that 448=8 ×56 , so the original
number is divisible by 8.

The same logic can be applied to obtain the divisibility rule for 3. We again split the number.
Note that 10n ≡1n ≡1(mod 3) so if we had a n-digit number abc ... ´ xyz , then for the number to
be divisible by 3, the sum of the digits must be divisible by 3:

This follows from:


10n a+10 n−1 b+10 n−2 c +...+100 x+10 y + z ≡ a+b +c +...+ x+ y+ z ≡0 (mod 3)

We use this method, yet again for the divisibility rule for 5. This would be much easier, and
you would see striking resemblance with that of the divisibility rule for 2. Note that
10n =2n × 5n ≡ 0(mod 5) and as such, the last digit of the number must be a 0, or a 5.

Things get a little tricky for the divisibility rule for 7. An easier method to remember is that for
an n-digit number, we divide the number into groups of 3 starting from the right and
give these groups alternating +/- signs. Apply the rule again if necessary until you get a
three-digit number. The original number is divisible by 7 if this sum is. For example, for the
number 123456789, we would split this number into the following numbers; 789, 456 and
123. We would then find the sum: 789−456+123 , and if this sum is divisible by 7, the
original number 123456789 would be. This holds because 1000=1001−1≡−1(mod 7). This
explains the need for the alternating signs.

The divisibility rule for 9 is very similar to that for 3. Since 10n ≡1n ≡1(mod 9) , we can follow
the same form as the divisibility rule for 3 and conclude that for a number to be divisible by 9,
the sum of the digits must be divisible by 9.

The divisibility rule for 10 is the easiest among all. As 10n =0(mod 10) ,it follows that the last
digit of a number has to be 0 for the number to be divisible by 10.

Similar to that of 7, the divisibility rule of 11 deals with a negative modulus, i.e.
10n ≡−1n ≡−1∨1(mod 11). Therefore, for a n-digit number abc...xyz, which we split into
10n a+10 n−1 b+10 n−2 c +...+100 x+10 y + z , if n is even, that would be congruent to
a−b+ c+...+ x− y+ z mod 11. A similar result would be obtained if n were to be odd. So in
words, we sum take the difference between alternating digits and sum this difference. If this
difference is divisible by 11, then the original number is divisible by 11.

For the divisibility rule of composite number, apply the divisibility rules of every expanded
factor i.e. to check the divisibility of a number with 24(23 ×3), we would have to check for the
divisibility of 8 and 3, and not use the divisibility rule of 2 three times followed by the
divisibility rule of 3. If all the divisibility rules work for the number, it is divisible by the
product. For example, 6=2× 3, so the divisibility rule for 6 is to apply the divisibility rules of
both 2 and 3 for the number. Hence, for a number to be divisible by 6, the last digit of the
number must be even and the sum of all the digits must be divisible by 3.

Hopefully this has provided as a relatively easy crash course on the divisibility rules. Don’t
worry if you forget any, because they can all be derived. Just know the divisibility of the
number 10!

Done by:
Hu Ching Hao
Jethro Kuan
Class 4J

Note: no references.

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