The number of times the digit 5 will appear while writing the integers from 1 to 1000 is

Answer: (c) 300

Written as three-digit strings from 000 to 999, every digit appears equally often in each place, so 5 fills one-tenth of the 3000 digit places: 300. The number 1000 adds no 5.

1. Treat 1 to 999 as three-digit strings 001–999 (leading zeros add no 5s).
2. In each place — units, tens, hundreds — the digit 5 appears in 100 of the 1000 strings 000–999.
3. So 5 appears 3 × 100 = 300 times from 1 to 999.
4. 1000 has no 5, so the total is 300.
5. Check: units place 5, 15, …, 995 = 100; tens place 50–59 in each hundred = 10 × 10 = 100; hundreds place 500–599 = 100.

Remember · From 1 to 10ⁿ − 1, each non-zero digit appears n × 10ⁿ⁻¹ times; check the end number separately.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error