When completed, the cross-number below will have one digit (from 0-9) in each cell, and no zeros in row (a) and in column (a).

         (a) (b) (c) 
            +---+---+
    (a)     |   |   |
        +---+---+---+
    (b) |   |   |   |
        +---+---+---+
    (c) |   |   |    
        +---+---+

ACROSS : (a) Abigail´s age.
         (b) Sum of Abigail´s age,
                    Blanche´s age,
                    Cynthia´s age, and
                    Darlene´s age.
         (c) Blanche´s age.

DOWN   : (a) Darlene´s age
         (b) Sum of three of the ages in (b) across.
         (c) Cynthia´s age.

Whose age was omitted from (b) down, and what are the ages of the 4 women ?

Note: this can be solved by hand. Those who will use the computer, give the others some time before posting the solution obtained this way. Tk you.

FOR ab = 1 TO 9
 FOR ac = 1 TO 9
  FOR ba = 1 TO 9
   FOR bb = 0 TO 9
    FOR bc = 0 TO 9
     FOR ca = 1 TO 9
      FOR cb = 0 TO 9
       a = ab * 10 + ac
       b = ca * 10 + cb
       c = ac * 10 + bc
       d = ba * 10 + ca
       abcd = ba * 100 + bb * 10 + bc
       IF abcd = a + b + c + d THEN
         s = ab * 100 + bb * 10 + cb
         IF s + a = abcd THEN
           PRINT "abigail missing"
           PRINT a, b, c, d
           PRINT USING "  # #"; ab; ac
           PRINT USING "# # #"; ba; bb; bc
           PRINT USING "# #"; ca; cb
         END IF
         IF s + b = abcd THEN
           PRINT "blanche missing"
           PRINT a, b, c, d
           PRINT USING "  # #"; ab; ac
           PRINT USING "# # #"; ba; bb; bc
           PRINT USING "# #"; ca; cb
         END IF
         IF s + c = abcd THEN
           PRINT "cynthia missing"
           PRINT a, b, c, d
           PRINT USING "  # #"; ab; ac
           PRINT USING "# # #"; ba; bb; bc
           PRINT USING "# #"; ca; cb
         END IF
         IF s + d = abcd THEN
           PRINT "darlene missing"
           PRINT a, b, c, d
           PRINT USING "  # #"; ab; ac
           PRINT USING "# # #"; ba; bb; bc
           PRINT USING "# #"; ca; cb
         END IF
       END IF
      NEXT
     NEXT
    NEXT
   NEXT
  NEXT
 NEXT
NEXT

blanche missing
 16            95            60            29
  1 6
2 0 0
9 5

Posted by Charlie on 2005-10-20 22:54:40