When the celebrated German mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) was nine he was asked to add all the integers from 1 through 100. He quickly added 1 to 100, 2 to 99, and so on for 50 pairs of numbers each adding to 101. Answer: 50 X 101=5,050. What is the sum of all the digits in integers from 1 through 1,000,000,000? (That’s all the digits in all the numbers, not all the numbers themselves.)
Answer: The numbers can be grouped by pairs: 999,999,999 and 0; 999,999,998 and 1' 999,999,997 and 2; and so on.... There are half a billion pairs, and the sum of the digits in each pair is 81. The digits in the unpaired number, 1,000,000,000, add to 1. Then: (500,000,000 X 81) + 1= 40,500,000,001.
Solution:
Show Answer
The numbers can be grouped by pairs:
999,999,999 and 0;
999,999,998 and 1′
999,999,997 and 2;
and so on….
There are half a billion pairs, and the sum of the digits in each pair is 81. The digits in the unpaired number, 1,000,000,000, add to 1. Then:
(500,000,000 X 81) + 1= 40,500,000,001.
Show Answer
The numbers can be grouped by pairs:
999,999,999 and 0;
999,999,998 and 1′
999,999,997 and 2;
and so on….
There are half a billion pairs, and the sum of the digits in each pair is 81. The digits in the unpaired number, 1,000,000,000, add to 1. Then:
(500,000,000 X 81) + 1= 40,500,000,001.
999,999,999 and 0;
999,999,998 and 1′
999,999,997 and 2;
and so on….
There are half a billion pairs, and the sum of the digits in each pair is 81. The digits in the unpaired number, 1,000,000,000, add to 1. Then:
(500,000,000 X 81) + 1= 40,500,000,001.
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