UPSC CSE Prelims 2017
To calculate the total number of digits printed for a book containing 150 pages, the pages are categorized by the number of digits required for their numbering:
The cumulative sum of digits from all segments is 9 + 180 + 153 = 342.
Options (A) 262, (C) 360, and (D) 450 are incorrect. These values typically arise from errors in segmenting the page ranges, miscalculating the number of pages within a segment, or incorrectly applying the number of digits per page. For example, 450 would be the result if all 150 pages were erroneously assumed to require 3 digits each (150 × 3), which does not account for single-digit and two-digit page numbers.