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Find a 10-digit number where the first digit is how many zeros in the number, the second digit is how many 1s in the number etc. until the tenth digit which is how many 9s in the number.


The answer is 6210001000.

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1 solution

Curtis Clement
Jul 31, 2015

In order to proceed we need to look at the digit sum of the number and create restraints at each stage of the "trial-and-improvement" method. Here's how it goes....
Let the number be n(0)n(1)n(2)..n(9) such that: n ( 0 ) + n ( 1 ) + n ( 2 ) + n ( 3 ) + . . . + n ( 7 ) + n ( 8 ) + n ( 9 ) \ n(0)+n(1)+n(2)+n(3)+...+n(7)+n(8)+n(9) = n ( 1 ) + 2 n ( 2 ) + 3 n ( 3 ) + . . . + 7 n ( 7 ) + 8 n ( 8 ) + 9 n ( 9 ) ( 1 ) \ = n(1)+2n(2)+3n(3)+...+7n(7)+8n(8)+9n(9) \ (1) The changing coefficients can be explained with an example. If n(5) = 3 then there are digits equal to 5 giving a "sub-sum" of 5(3) = 15. Note that n ( k ) k \ n(k) \ne k otherwise we get a contradiction and n ( k ) = 0 n ( 0 ) k \ n(k) = 0 \implies\ n(0) \ne k . Equation (1) gives: n ( 2 ) + 2 n ( 3 ) + 3 n ( 4 ) + . . . + 7 n ( 8 ) + 8 n ( 9 ) = n ( 0 ) 9 \ n(2)+2n(3)+3n(4)+...+7n(8)+8n(9) = n(0) \leq\ 9 . n ( 6 ) + n ( 7 ) + n ( 8 ) + n ( 9 ) 1 n ( 5 ) + n ( 6 ) + n ( 7 ) + n ( 8 ) + n ( 9 ) 2 \ n(6)+n(7)+n(8)+n(9) \leq\ 1| \ n(5)+n(6)+n(7)+n(8)+n(9) \leq\ 2 . . . n ( 3 ) + n ( 4 ) + n ( 5 ) + n ( 6 ) + n ( 7 ) + n ( 8 ) + n ( 9 ) 4 \ ... n(3) +n(4)+n(5)+n(6)+n(7)+n(8)+n(9) \leq\ 4 C a s e n ( 9 ) = 1 \ Case \ n(9) = 1 : If n(0) = 9, then n(9) = 0 or 1 -> No solution. If n(0) = 8, then n(2) = 1 -> No solution. Therefore, n(9) = 0. C a s e n ( 9 ) = 0 , n ( 8 ) = 1 \ Case \ n(9) = 0 \ ,\ n(8) = 1 : For n(0) = 8 (n(0) = 9 is an immediate contradiction) , so n(2) = 1 -> No solution. If n(0) = 7.

Continuing this method we find that: n ( 9 ) = n ( 8 ) = n ( 7 ) = 0 , n ( 6 ) = 1 \ n(9) = n(8) = n(7) = 0 \ , \ n(6) = 1 : Equation (1) implies that n(2) = 1, leaving 6n(2)10001000, so b= 2. a n s w e r = 6210001000 \large{\therefore\ answer = 6210001000}

Going further shows that this solution is unique.

Sorry the solution was so long and tedious but that's as short as I could make it without leaving out the important points. Excellent puzzle though! :D

Curtis Clement - 5 years, 10 months ago

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sir why couldn't the answer be 8100000000

atharv toraskar - 5 years, 7 months ago

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