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What's Going On? (Posted on 2005-07-05) Difficulty: 3 of 5
How do you explain the following addition problems?
      87678          185634
    + 43125        +  86257
    -------        --------
    1821784           62872

See The Solution Submitted by Bractals    
Rating: 3.0000 (3 votes)

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re: solution -how i got it | Comment 4 of 5 |
(In reply to solution by Josh70679)

For the addition to be consistent with any rules I know of, the explanation is most likely to be a strange base.  If n > 0, the sum on the right would be less than either summand, and all 3 are positive.  Thus n > 0.  So I started by looking at it as a polynomial problem in base n, looking for a integer solution to both equations.  Simplifying both sides we get


   n^6 + 8n^5 - 10n^4 - 9n^3 - n - 9 = 0
   n^5 + 10n^4 + 9n^3 + n + 9 = 0

The constant (+/-)9 in each equation means and integer solution must divide 9, and all the numerals 1 thru 8 are used in the origiinal equations, so -9 is the most likely bet.  Plug in -9 for n and voila 

  Posted by josh on 2005-07-06 02:43:21
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