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jmc

counting and probability senior

Problem

How many positive integers less than 10,000 have at most two different digits?
Solution
First, let's count numbers with only a single digit. We have nine of these for each length, and four lengths, so 36 total numbers. Now, let's count those with two distinct digits. We handle the cases "0 included" and "0 not included" separately. There are ways to choose two digits, and . Given two digits, there are ways to arrange them in an -digit number, for a total of such numbers (or we can list them: ). Thus, we have numbers of this form. Now, suppose 0 is one of our digits. We have nine choices for the other digit. For each choice, we have -digit numbers we can form, for a total of such numbers (or we can list them: ). This gives us numbers of this form. Thus, in total, we have such numbers.
Final answer
927