Question:
Let $P$ be the product of the first $100$ positive odd integers. Find the largest integer $k$ such that $P$ is divisible by $3^k .$


Answer:
Note that the product of the first $100$ positive odd integers can be written as $1\cdot 3\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdots 195\cdot 197\cdot 199=\frac{1\cdot 2\cdots200}{2\cdot4\cdots200} = \frac{200!}{2^{100}\cdot 100!}$
Hence, we seek the number of threes in $200!$ decreased by the number of threes in $100!.$
There are
$\left\lfloor \frac{200}{3}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{200}{9}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor \frac{200}{27}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{200}{81}\right\rfloor =66+22+7+2=97$
threes in $200!$ and
$\left\lfloor \frac{100}{3}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{100}{9}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor \frac{100}{27}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{100}{81}\right\rfloor=33+11+3+1=48$
threes in $100!$
Therefore, we have a total of $97-48=\boxed{49}$ threes.