Question

Call a positive integer monotonous if it is a one-digit number or its digits, when read from left to right, form either a strictly increasing or a strictly decreasing sequence. For example, $3,$ $23578,$ and $987620$ are monotonous, but $88,$ $7434,$ and $23557$ are not. How many monotonous positive integers are there?

$1024$

$1524$

$1533$

$1536$

$2048$

Solution:

Strictly increasing monotonous numbers correspond to nonempty subsets of $\{1, \ldots, 9\},$ giving $2^9 - 1 = 511.$ Strictly decreasing ones correspond to subsets of $\{0, 1, \ldots, 9\}$ other than $\varnothing$ and $\{0\}$ (a leading $0$ is not allowed), giving $2^{10} - 2 = 1022.$ The nine single-digit numbers are counted in both, so the total is $511 + 1022 - 9 = 1524.$

Thus, the correct answer is B.

2017 AMC 12B Problem 11

Solution:

Problem 11 in Other Years