What is the highest power of 12 that divides 54!?

Explanatory Answer :

12 = 2^2 * 3, so we need to count the highest power of 2 and highest power of 3 that will divide 54! and then we can use this to find the highest power of 12.

54! is a multiple of 2^50 * 3^26. Importantly, these are the highest powers of 2 and 3 that divide 54!.

2^2* 3 = 12. We need to see what is the highest power of 22 * 3 that we can accommodate within 54!

In other words, what is the highest n such that (2^2*3)^n can be accommodated within 2^50* 3^26

Let us try some numbers, say, 10, 20, 30

(2^2*3)^10 = 2^20 * 3^10, this is within 2^50* 3^26

(2^2*3)^20 = 2^40 * 3^20, this is within 2^50* 3^26

(2^2*3)^30 = 2^60 * 3^30, this is not within 2^50* 3^26

The highest number possible for n is 25.

(2^2*3)^25 = 2^50 * 3^25, this is within 2^50* 3^26,

but (2^2 *3)^26 = 2^52 * 3^26, this is not within 2^50 * 3^26

So, 54! can be said to be a multiple of (2^2 * 3)^25.

Or, the highest power of 12 that can divide 54! is 25. Note: For most numbers, we should be able to find the limiting prime. As in, to find the highest power of 10, we need to count 5s.

hence 25 is the answer