Does "3 digit number chosen at random" include 000?

[Nan in Mass]

In NEM, it doesn't seem to. Is it different in the US? As a computer person, I would include it, but I can see why they don't. I'm wondering about PSATs and SATs with US assumptions and terminology.
-Nan

[Moira in MA]

Since no one else has responded, I will:

I'd say probably not, most folks start counting at 1 so it would be a number between 001 and 999. Zero is a really 'modern' concept in counting.

jmho
~Moira

[Maryalice]

But OTOH, you said "3 digit", not necessarily counting number. Each place could have a value of 0-9, which would mean that you could get 000, or anything up to 999. If you had 3 tumblers on a lock, and each tumbler could have any digit from 0-9, you can see how the number 000 could happen. Maybe there is something that they mentioned that would eliminate 000.

[KAR120C]

But in general, I'd say 3-digit numbers are those with a non-zero first digit. I was just reading something somewhere that specified that, but now I have no idea where it was.

I don't know that I've ever seen it specified for SAT or ACTs, but I would tend to go the same way, unless like Maryalice said, if the problem's setup implied something else (like the combination lock example).

[Nan in Mass]

My husband said the same thing. He said a "number" is assumed not to have zeros on the left. The dangers of being a computer person LOL... I will tell my son to assume no zeros then, that being the majority of opinions. Thank you everyone.