Stupid Divisibility Tricks

Marc Renault
Shippensburg University

MathFest
August 2006

Rule of 3
Rule of 7
Rule of 19

161

Other numbers?
Other categories of tricks?
L.E. Dickson 1919
History of the Theory of Numbers
Martin Gardner 1962
Scientific American 2 12
Internet, number theory texts, liberal
studies texts
Useful?

Trick #1: Examine Ending Digits

2, 5, 10 divide 10

Examine last digit

4, 20, 25, 100 divide 100

Examine last 2 digits

8, 40 divide 1000

Examine last 3 digits

16, 80 divide 10,000

Examine last 4 digits

32 divides 100,000

Examine last 5 digits

64 divides 1,000,000

Examine last 6 digits

Trick #2: Add (Blocks of) Digits

Rule of 3:
8362 = 81000 + 3100 + 610 + 2
8 + 3 + 6 + 2 (mod 3)
10 1 (mod 3)
10 1 (mod 9)
10 -1 (mod 11)
100 1 (mod 11)
100 1 (mod 33)
100 1 (mod 99)
100 -1 (mod 101)
1000 -1 (mod 7)
1000 -1 (mod 13)
1000 1 (mod 27)
1000 1 (mod 37)
1000 -1 (mod 77)
1000 -1 (mod 91)

Add digits

Add pairs of digits

Add triples of digits

Trick #3: Trim from the Right

Test for divisibility by 7:
6034
- 8
595
-10
49
6034 = 10603 + 4

mod 7

10603 +
4 0
(-2)10603 + (-2)4 0

603 + (-2)4 0
To test divisibility by d find an inverse of 10 (mod d).

d
3
7
9
11
13
17
19
21
23
27
29
31
33
37
39
41
43
47
49
51

10-1 (mod d)
1, -2
5, -2
1
-1
4, -9
-5
2
-2
7
-8
3
-3
10
-11
4
-4
-30
5
-5

d
53
57
59
61
63
67
69
71
73
77
79
81
83
87
89
91
93
97
99
101

10-1 (mod d)
40
6
-6
-20
7
-7
8
-8
25
9, -80
-9
10
-10

d
3
7
9
11
13
17
19
21
23
27
29
31
33
37
39
41
43
47
49
51

100-1 (mod d)
1, -2
4, -3
1
1
3, -10
8, -9
4
4
3, -20
10
-20
10
40, -3
8

d
53
57
59
61
63
67
69
71
73
77
79
81
83
87
89
91
93
97
99
101

100-1 (mod d)
-9
4

-2
-20
-10

-20
-8
-10
40
1
-1

Trick #4: Trim from the Left

Test for divisibility by 34:
587044
- 10
Trim off leftmost digit
77044
Multiply by 2
- 14
Move in 2 places
5644
Subtract
- 10
544
- 10
34
587044 is divisible by 34
587044 = 1065 + 87044
104(-2)5 + 87044 (mod 34)
100 -2 (mod 34)

d
7
13
14
19
21
32
33
34
35
48

100 (mod d)
2
-4
2
5
-5
4
1
-2
-5
4

d
49
51
52
53
95
96
97
98
99
101

100 (mod d)
2
-2
-4
-6
5
4
3
2
1
-1

Trick #5: Apply Smaller Divisors

Those divisors from 2 to 100 that havent been covered by other tricks:
d
6
12
18
22
24
26
28
30
36
38
42
44
45
46
54
55
56
58
60

use
23
34
29
2 11
38
2 13
47
3 10
49
2 19
2 21
4 11
59
2 23
2 27
5 11
78
2 29
3 20

d
62
63
65
66
68
70
72
74
75
76
78
82
84
85
86
88
90
92
94

use
2 31
79
5 13
2 3 11
4 17
7 10
89
2 37
3 25
4 19
2 39
2 41
4 21
5 17
2 43
8 11
9 10
4 23
2 47