Prove that there are no natural numbers $x$ whose digits are $0$ or $2$, such that $x$ is a perfect square.

elementary-number-theorylinear algebranumber theory

Prove that there are no natural numbers $x$ whose digits are $0$ or $2$, such that $x$ is a perfect square. I need some help here. I thought starting with $x = n * 10^k$ where $10^k$ represents the number of the zeros at the end of the number and $n$ is the group of digits which end with $2$ could help, but it didn't. Can anyone help?

Best Answer

Dividing by an appropriate power of $100$ we can ensure that the final two digits are not both $0$. But a simple search (or congruence argument) shows that none of $2,20,22$ are squares $\pmod {100}$.

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