The similar questions I have found (Q1, Q2 for example) take a more statistical approach while my approach is more a problem-solving approach or a purely numerical approach. The math question I'm struggling with is:
How many digits does it take to assign numbers to 182 employees using the numbers from 1 to 182? For example, it takes 15 digits to assign numbers to 12 employees (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12).
I don't know if it's because I'm not native english speaker, but it doesn't make sense to me that "it takes 15 digits to assign numbers to 12 employees". As far as I know:
- Maths have 10 digits, from 0 to 9.
- The number 234 has 3 digits: 2,3, and 4.
- Using the numbers from 1 to 100, to assign 2 employees I would need two digits:
1,2. Or only 1 digit:1,11. - With 10 digits (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) I don't see any restriction to assignation.
- Using only two digits (like 1 and 2) from numbers 1 to 99, I could assign until 6 employees:
1,2,11,22,12,21. - In all cases above, the number of digits needed is less than the quantity of numbers to assign.
So, how does it takes 15 digits to assign numbers to 12 employees using numbers from 1 to 182?.
- Using a combination of all 10 digits (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) the 12 assignations could be
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. - Using a minimal combination of digits (3: 1,2,3), the assignations could be:
1,11,111,112,113,121,122,123,131,132,133,2. - And even more, what are those 15 digits if maths only has 10 digits?
I have found similar questions (It took 2040 digits to assign every employee a number. How many employees are there?) with a detailed math answer but still doesn't make sense to me, as I have explained my reasons above and wondering if it's a problem-solving perspective or language perspective maybe?
