Of those numbers whose English representation in Capital Block Letters consists only of straight lines, only one number has a value equal to the number of straight line segments required to write it out. What number is this?

(Note: Hyphens '-' are not to be counted as a Line Segment).

Letters that can be made from straight line segments, and the number of segments, are as follows:
A(3)
E(4)
F(3)
H(3)
I(1)(3?)
K(3)
L(2)
M(4)
N(3)
T(2)
V(2)
W(4)
X(2)
Y(3)(2?)
Z(3)
Numbers that can be made from these letters:
5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 25, 29, 50, 55, 59, 90...
But I doubt the number is higher than that. So, the number of segments in each of these numbers:
5: 3+1+2+4 = 10
9: 3+1+3+4 = 11
10: 2+4+3 = 9
11: 4+2+4+2+4+3 = 19
12: 2+4+4+2+2+4 = 18
15: 3+1+3+2+4+4+3 = 20
19: 3+1+3+4+2+4+4+3 = 24
20: 2+4+4+3+2+3 = 18
25: (20)+(5) = 18+10 = 28
29: (20)+(9) = 18+11 = 29
BINGO

TWENTY-NINE is comprised of 29 line segments (disregarding, as the problem states, the hyphen)

Posted by DJ on 2003-05-17 07:15:23