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Five of a Kind (Posted on 2003-08-28) Difficulty: 3 of 5
  1. A puzzle book challenged its readers to form an expression using five threes and basic mathematical symbols to come up with 37.
    The answer was found simply enough:

    33 + 3 + 3/3 = 37.

    Find another way to do this.

  2. The same puzzle book posed the problem of finding 55 using five fours and any mathematical symbols.
    That is also easily accomplished by:

    44 + 44/4 = 55.

    Find another way to do this one, as well.

See The Solution Submitted by DJ    
Rating: 4.1250 (8 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
fundamental symbols? | Comment 8 of 15 |
I, like Dacre, will feel a little 'cheated' if more than +-*/ need to be used (cheated out of a half hour of my life!)- maybe DJ will surprise us.
If we do need to go beyond these four symbols which do you think is more fundamental? (which would you learn first at school). Or, which of the proffered equations would a child most likely work the answer out to be 55?
Sqr root comes first but would a 'child' understand 'factorial' before '0.4 doesn't need the zero'?
I think .4 is neater than 4! so I'm going with,
44root4/.4*4 =55 (really just a rearrangement of Your Buddy's second offering)
  Posted by Lee on 2003-08-29 00:59:06
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