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9! (Posted on 2005-02-28) Difficulty: 2 of 5

Find nine single digit numbers (other than 1, 2, 3, ..., and 9) with a sum of 45 and a product of 9! (362,880).

For instance, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 add up to 45, but their product is 645,120.

Try finding the answer without the use of a program.

See The Solution Submitted by Erik O.    
Rating: 3.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution Solution | Comment 5 of 12 |
To solve this problem, I listed 1 through 9 next to their factors.

1 1
2 2
3 3
4 22
5 5
6 23
7 7
8 222
9 33

I thought, "Maybe I can arrange the factors differently with the same sum, 45."  So I tried it, first moving the 3 factor of 6 alongside the 3 factor of 3, changing 3 and 6 to 9 and 2.  This increased the sum to 47.  The very next thing I tried was moving one of the 2 factors on the 8 to the 2, changing the 2 and 8 to 4 and 4.  I recalculated the sum and got... 45.  I must have made some lucky guesses.

The factors relisted:
1 1
4 22
9 33
4 22
5 5
2 2
7 7
4 22
9 33

Edit: I sneaked a peek at Charlie's solution... Is this solution unique?  Those were some lucky guesses then!


Edited on February 28, 2005, 11:54 pm
  Posted by Tristan on 2005-02-28 23:52:03

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