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Biggest palindrome (Posted on 2019-02-21) Difficulty: 3 of 5
For n = 1: 9 is the largest palindrome which is the product of two 1-digit numbers.
9 = 3*3

For n = 2: 9009 is the largest palindrome which is the product of two 2-digit numbers.
9009 = 91*99

Continue for n=3, 4, ..., etc.

How far can you go?

See The Solution Submitted by Ady TZIDON    
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Pretty far... | Comment 1 of 3
If n is even, you can go infinitely high.

Consider n = 2m and the product of (10^n - 1) and (10^n - 10^m - 1)

Since both of these are smaller than 10^n they each have at most n digits. 10^m - 1 is necessarily smaller than 10^n-1 and so the first digit of the second number is 9, and each number has exactly n digits. More descriptively, the first product is n 9's while the second is m 9's followed by m-1 0's followed by a 1.

The product (using 2m = n to eliminate n) is:

10^4m -10^3m + 10^m - 1 = 10^3m(10^m - 1) + (10^m - 1)

Now, 10^m - 1 is a sequence of m 9's, and the 10^3m factor shifts that pattern 3m digits to the left so there can be no overlap. The resulting number then has m 9's followed by 2m 0's followed by m 9's. Such a number is palindromic.


  Posted by Paul on 2019-02-22 09:40:10
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