Assign a value to each letter of the alphabet using the trivial forward assignment: A=1, B=2, ..., Z=26. Let the value of a word be the sum of its letters. For example the value of 'example' would be 5+24+1+13+16+12+5 = 76.

In contrast, assign the values backwards: A=26, B=25, ..., Z=1. Then 'example' would have a value of 22+3+26+14+11+15+22 = 113.

Most words will have different forward and backward values. One exception is the word 'by': it has a value of 27 both forward and backward. Can you find longer words whose forward and backward values are the same?

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Posted by Math Man on 2017-02-07 14:37:15