You are on page 1of 3

For the concept of identifying the unit digit, we have to first familiarize with

the concept of cyclicity. Cyclicity of any number is about the last digit and
how they appear in a certain defined manner. Lets take an example to
clear this thing:
The cyclicity chart of 2 is:
21 =2
22 =4
23 =8
24=16
25=32
Have a close look at the above. You would see that as 2 is multiplied
everytime with its own self, the last digit changes. On the 4th multiplication,
25 has the same unit digit as 21. This shows us the cyclicity of 2 is 4, that is
after every fourth multiplication, the unit digit will be two.
Cyclicity table:
The cyclicity table for numbers is given as below:

How did we figure out the above? Multiply and see for yourself. Its good
practice.
Now let us use the concept of cyclicity to calculate the Unit digit of a
number.
What is the unit digit of the expression 445?
Now we have two methods to solve this but we choose the best way to
solve it i.e. through cyclicity
We know the cyclicity of 4 is 2
Have a look:
41 =4
42 =16
43 =64
Here the 4 comes again to the end when the 4 raised to the power of 3 so
it is clear that the cyclicity of 4 is 2. Now with the cyclicity number i.e. with
2 divide the given power i.e. 45/2 what will be the remainder the remainder
will be 1 so the when remainder was 1 what was the answer when 4 raised
to the power one see first step , yes , 4
So the unit digit in this case is 4.
For checking whether you have learned the topic, think of any number like
this, calculate its unit digit and then check it with the help of a calculator.
Lets solve another example:
The digit in the unit place of the number 795 X 358 is
A. 7

B. 2
C. 6
D. 4
Solution
The Cyclicity table for 7 is as follows:
71 =7
72 =49
73 = 343
74 = 2401
Lets divide 95 by 4: the remainder is 3.
Thus, the last digit of 795 is equals to the last digit of 73 i.e. 3.
The Cyclicity table for 3 is as follows:
31 =3
32 =9
33 = 27
34 = 81
35 = 243
Lets divide 58 by 4, the remainder is 2. Hence the last digit will be 9.
Therefore, units digit of (795 X 358) is units digit of product of digit at units
place of 795 and 358 = 3 * 9 = 27. Hence option 1 is the answer.

You might also like