A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward, such as 145.

A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward, such as 145. How many odd, 4-digit numbers are palindromes?

Quiz

Answer/Solution

80

Steps/Work

A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward. Examples of four digit palindromes are 1221, 4334, 2222 etc
You basically get to choose the first two digits and you repeat them in opposite order. Say, you choose 45 as your first two digits. The next two digits are 54 and the number is 4554.
Also, you need only odd palindromes. This means that you need an odd digit at the end i.e. 1/3/5/7/9. This means that you need to start the number with an odd digit. Only then will it end with an odd digit.
In how many ways can you pick two digits such that the first one is an odd digit?
The first digit can be selected in 5 ways.(1/3/5/7/9)
The second digit can be selected in 10 ways.(0/1/2/3...8/9)
Total = 5*16 = 80 ways
C