These are the initials decimals of pi and e:

Decimals of pi: 1415926535897932384626433832795...
Decimals of e : 7182818284590452353602874713526...

Without rearranging the order of the digits, add any quantity of parentheses and arithmetic signs +, -, *, / (with same manner in both line) so that to make correct arithmetic expressions equally to 2003, using the least possible number of symbols. You have to use the digits starting from the left one, and the same numbers of digits in each case.

Example for number 11, using the first 5 digits:

- (1 * 4) + 1 + 5 + 9 = 11
- (7 * 1) + 8 + 2 + 8 = 11

These two expression contains 12 symbols (5 digits, 2 parentheses and 5 arithmetic signs).

X * (X * X - X + X) + X * X - X = 2003

In this solution, there are 12 digits.

 

X * X + X * X * X - X + X * X + X = 2003

In this solution, there are 13 digits.

Edited on October 13, 2005, 11:51 pm

Posted by pcbouhid on 2005-10-13 23:48:37