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Adding all repeating decimals 0.abc with distinct digits

Question

Consider every number of the form 0.abc‾=0.abcabcabc…0.\overline{abc}=0.abcabcabc\ldots where aa, bb, cc are three different digits from 00 to 99. What is the total of all such numbers?

Short answer

360. There are 10⋅9⋅8=72010\cdot9\cdot8=720 choices of (a,b,c)(a,b,c). By symmetry each decimal place averages 4.54.5, so the average number is 4.5∑k≥110−k=124.5\sum_{k\ge1}10^{-k}=\tfrac12, and the total is 720⋅12=360720\cdot\tfrac12=360.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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