If half adders and full adders are implemented using gates, then for the…

To add two n-bit numbers using ripple carry adders, we need one Half Adder (HA) for the least significant bit (LSB) and n-1 Full Adders (FA) for the remaining bits. This is because the LSB addition does not require a carry-in, while all subsequent bit positions do.\nFor 17-bit numbers:\n- The LSB (bit 0) uses 1 Half Adder.\n- The remaining 16 bits (bits 1 to 16) each require a Full Adder to handle the carry-in from the previous position.\nThus, we need 1 Half Adder and 16 Full Adders. Option A is incorrect because it suggests no HAs, which would require a carry-in for the first bit. Option B reverses the count. Option D incorrectly splits the adders equally.