JAMB 1984 · UME · Q12

A trader in a country whose currency, the Mont (M), is in base five bought 1035103_5 oranges at M145M14_5 each. If he sold the oranges at M245M24_5 each, what was his gain?

Worked solution (try it first)
  1. The gain on each orange is selling price minus cost price: 245−145=10524_5 - 14_5 = 10_5.
  2. Multiply by the number of oranges: 1035×105103_5 \times 10_5.
  3. Multiplying by 10510_5 (five) shifts every digit one place left, just as ×10\times 10 does in base ten: 103051030_5.
  4. So the gain is M10305M1030_5, option B.

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