Ben walked into a hardware store and asked the price of some items. The salesman said: One costs $1, Eight costs $1, Seventeen cost $2, One hundred four costs $3 and One thousand seventy two costs $4. What was Ben buying?

Ben was buying home address numbers and they cost $1 per digit.

Explanation:

Numerals to nail to the side of his house to indicate the address. They were $1 per numeral. For “one thousand seventy-two,” Ben bought the numeral 1 for $1, the numeral 0 for $1, the numeral 7 for $1 and the numeral 2 for $1

Explanation: