Percent of perfect squares that have an odd digit for their hundreds place

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the percentage of perfect squares that have an odd digit in their hundreds place and later shifts to the percentage of perfect squares with an odd digit in their tens place. Participants explore these concepts through numerical examples and reasoning.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that 41% of perfect squares have an odd digit in their hundreds place.
  • Another participant proposes a revised question regarding the percentage of perfect squares with an odd digit in their tens place, indicating a preference for a simpler problem.
  • A participant provides a mathematical breakdown of how to determine the tens digit's parity based on the squares of digits from 0 to 9, concluding that the proportion of perfect squares with an odd digit in their tens place is 20%.
  • Another participant agrees with the 41% figure for the hundreds place after counting odd hundreds-place digits in the first 100 squares.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the percentages for the hundreds and tens places, with some agreeing on the 41% figure for the hundreds place, while the tens place remains contested with a proposed 20% from one participant.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes assumptions about the distribution of digits in perfect squares and relies on specific examples from the first 100 squares. There is no consensus on the tens place percentage, and the reasoning for the hundreds place is based on a specific counting method.

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Suppose you consider the set of all perfect squares (the squares of all of the integers).What percent of them have an odd digit for their hundreds place?
 
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checkittwice said:
suppose you consider the set of all perfect squares (the squares of all of the integers).What percent of them have an odd digit for their hundreds place?

41%

cb
 
CaptainBlack said:
41%

cb

Edit: Some of my text was removed because I don't agree with it.I really meant to ask (hopefully an easier question with less work):"What percent of the perfect squares have an odd digit in their tens place?"Edit:

I sent a PM to CB, because I did not want to have any post in
front of Opalg's solution to my amended question.
 
Last edited:
checkittwice said:
I would chop off that 1% and make it 40%.

However, I don't have the work for you at this
time to back it up.

When I get the chance I will check my reasoning and the counting program.

CB
 
checkittwice said:
I really meant to ask (hopefully an easier question with less work):"What percent of the perfect squares have an odd digit in their tens place?"
If you square the number $a+10b+100c+\ldots$ (where $a,\,b,\,c\ldots$ are digits from 0 to 9) then you get

$a^2 + 20ab + \ldots$ (everything else is a multiple of 100).

If you are only interested in whether the tens digit is even or odd, then a multiple of 20 makes no difference. So everything depends on whether the tens digit in $a^2$ is even or odd. The squares of the digits from 0 to 9 are

00, 01, 04, 09, 25, 49, 64, 81 (tens digit even)

and

16, 36 (tens digit odd).

Each of these is equally likely to occur, so I reckon that the proportion of perfect squares with an odd digit in their tens place is 20%.
 
Opalg said:
If you square the number $a+10b+100c+\ldots$ (where $a,\,b,\,c\ldots$ are digits from 0 to 9) then you get

$a^2 + 20ab + \ldots$ (everything else is a multiple of 100).

If you are only interested in whether the tens digit is even or odd, then a multiple of 20 makes no difference. So everything depends on whether the tens digit in $a^2$ is even or odd. The squares of the digits from 0 to 9 are

00, 01, 04, 09, 25, 49, 64, 81 (tens digit even)

and

16, 36 (tens digit odd).

Each of these is equally likely to occur, so I reckon that the proportion of perfect squares with an odd digit in their tens place is 20%.

That is what I get.

CB
 
CaptainBlack said:
That is what I get.
... and I agree with your 41% for those with an odd digit in the hundreds place. I simply counted the number of odd hundreds-place digits in the list of the first 100 squares (as listed http://www.maths.com/numbers.square.htm, for example). The proportion in any other sequence of 100 consecutive squares will be the same.
 

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