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Solution: Add Digits

Discover how to efficiently solve the add digits problem by applying the digital root formula. This lesson helps you understand a mathematical technique that reduces repeated digit sums to a simple O(1) operation without iterations, improving problem-solving in coding interviews.

Statement

Given an integer num, repeatedly sum all of its digits until the resulting value is a single digit, then return that value.

Note: Could you solve this without any loop or recursion in O(1)O(1) runtime?

Constraints:

  • 00 \leq num 2311\leq 2^{31} - 1

Solution

The key insight behind this problem lies in a mathematical concept called the digital root. Rather than repeatedly summing digits in a loop, we can leverage the fact that any positive integer’s repeated digit sum is equivalent to 1+(num1)1 + ...