How many times will the digit 7 be written when listing the integers from 1 to 1000?

Vincen wrote: ↑

Fri May 28, 2021 6:55 am

How many times will the digit 7 be written when listing the integers from 1 to 1000?

(A) 110
(B) 111
(C) 271
(D) 300
(E) 304

Answer: D

Source: GMAT Club Tests

Here's one way to look at it.
Write all of the numbers as 3-digit numbers.
That is, 000, 001, 002, 003, .... 998, 999

NOTE: Yes, I have started at 000 and ended at 999, even though though the question asks us to look at the numbers from 1 to 1000. HOWEVER, notice that 000 and 1000 do not have any 7's so the outcome will be the same.

First, there are 1000 integers from 000 to 999
There are 3 digits in each integer.
So, there is a TOTAL of 3000 individual digit. (since 1000 x 3 = 3000)

Each of the 10 digits is equally represented, so the 7 will account for 1/10 of all digits.

1/10 of 3000 = 300

So, there are 300 0's, 300 1's, 300 2's, 300 3's, . . ., and 300 9's in the integers from 000 to 999

Answer: D

Cheers,
Bren