On the last digit and the last non-zero digit of $n^n$ in base $b$

TL;DR

This paper investigates the periodicity and non-periodicity of the last and last non-zero digits of the sequence n^n in various bases, extending previous work and proposing new conjectures about their behavior.

Contribution

It proves the periodicity of the last digit sequence in base b using new techniques and shows non-periodicity for the last non-zero digit sequence in certain bases, also proposing a conjecture for specific cases.

Findings

Last digit sequence in base b is periodic, proven with new methods.

Last non-zero digit sequence is non-periodic for odd prime power bases.

Sequence is periodic when b=2^{2^s}, with a conjecture that this is unique.

Abstract

In this paper we study the sequences defined by the last and the last non-zero digits of $n^n$ in base $b$. For the sequence given by the last digits of $n^n$ in base $b$, we prove its periodicity using different techniques than those used by W. Sierpinski and R. Hampel. In the case of the sequence given by the last non-zero digits of $n^n$ in base $b$ (which had been studied only for $b=10$) we show the non-periodicity of the sequence when $b$ is an odd prime power and when it is even and square-free. We also show that if $b=2^{2^s}$ the sequence is periodic and conjecture that this is the only such case.