Tried this problem severeal ways. Get a different answer every time, but it is in the same ballpark. Any help would be much appreciated.
How many zeros are at the end of the product of the first fifty
positive integers?
1 x 2 x 3 x ... x 49 x 50?
Are you asking for the number of digits in the answer or the number of zeroes at the end of the answer?
Let's suppose it is the latter. The factors 50, 25x2, 4 x 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 give a product of 12,000,000,000. That is nine zeroes at the end. None of the other factors alone, or in combination, result in a number divisible by 10. Therefore the answer is nine zeroes