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Answer: (B) 13
Explanation
The divisibility rule for 8 states that a number is divisible by 8 if the number formed by its last three digits is divisible by 8. In the given 8-digit number 123456xy, the last three digits form the number 6xy. This can be expressed mathematically as 600 + 10x + y.
To check for divisibility, we divide 600 by 8 and find that 600 = 8 × 75, which leaves a remainder of 0. Since 600 is perfectly divisible by 8, the divisibility of the entire number depends solely on the 2-digit number formed by xy, which is 10x + y. Therefore, 10x + y must be a multiple of 8.
The digits x and y can range from 0 to 9. We need to identify all multiples of 8 from 0 to 99. These multiples are 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88, and 96. In terms of (x, y) pairs, these are written as (0,0), (0,8), (1,6), (2,4), (3,2), (4,0), (4,8), (5,6), (6,4), (7,2), (8,0), (8,8), and (9,6).
To find the total number of such pairs without listing them, we can use the formula for the number of terms in an arithmetic progression: n = (l - a)/(d) + 1. Here, the first multiple a = 0, the last multiple less than 100 is l = 96, and the common difference d = 8. Substituting these values gives n = (96 - 0)/(8) + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13. Thus, there are 13 possible pairs of (x, y).