A possible way to provide each vase with a note is to put in vase 1 a note with 1, in vase 2 a note with 2, in vase 3 a note with 3, …, and in vase 2023 a note with 2023. We will use induction to show that this is the only distribution. Note that for a valid distribution it does not matter in which order we fill the vases.
Take a look at vase 1. Suppose we put a note in it with a. Then in vase a we put a note with b, such that (a+b)/2=1 or a+b=2. Since a and b are positive integers, it must hold that a=b=1. So the two vases here were the same and vase 1 contains a note with 1.
For the induction step, we assume that the first n−1 vases each contain a note with the number of the vase. We want to show that in vase n we have to put a note with n. Suppose in vase n we put a note with a. If a<n, then vase a also contains a note with a because of the induction hypothesis. It must then hold that (a+a)/2=n, but this contradicts a<n. We conclude that a≥n.
If a>n, we do not know yet which number has to go on the note in vase a. Call this number b. Then it must hold that (a+b)/2=n, and so b<n. But then we find a contradiction if we were to consider vase a first: in it we find a note with b, and in vase b we then find, because of the induction hypothesis, another note with b. However, (b+b)/2=a, because a>n and b<n.
We conclude that a=n must hold: in vase n we also put a note with n on it. Induction now gives that in each vase we put a note with the number of the vase on it. So this is the only possible distribution of the notes.