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What is the remainder when the product of 171 and 173 is divided by 17?
11
3
7
1
3
Find the remainder of each number individually when divided by 17, then multiply those remainders and take the final remainder: 171=17├Ч10+1 (rem 1) and 173=17├Ч10+3 (rem 3).
Numbers to be multiplied: 171 and 173. Divisor: 17.
(a├Чb)(modn)=[(a(modn))├Ч(b(modn))](modn)
Find the remainder of each number individually when divided by 17, then multiply those remainders and take the final remainder: 171=17├Ч10+1 (rem 1) and 173=17├Ч10+3 (rem 3).
Multiplying the large numbers 171├Ч173=29583 first and then dividing by 17 is prone to calculation errors; using remainders is much faster.
Divide 171 by 17
Calculate the remainder of the first number: 171=170+1, so 171тЙб1(mod17).
171(mod17)=1
Divide 173 by 17
Calculate the remainder of the second number: 173=170+3, so 173тЙб3(mod17).
173(mod17)=3
Apply Modular Multiplication
Multiply the remainders together: 1├Ч3=3. Since 3 is less than 17, the final remainder is 3.
(1├Ч3)(mod17)=3
B is correct because the product of the individual remainders of 171 (1) and 173 (3) when divided by 17 is 3.
This modular arithmetic technique is extremely useful for finding the last digits of large powers or solving complex divisibility problems in competitive exams.