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Sunday Morning Math Puzzle
NPR ^ | January 29, 2012 | Ed Pegg JR & Will Shortz

Posted on 01/29/2012 6:15:00 AM PST by SMGFan

Next Week's Challenge from listener Ed Pegg Jr.: Write the digits from 1 to 9 in a line. If you put a plus sign after the 2, a times sign after the 4, and plus signs after the 6 and 8, the line shows 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9, which equals 2003. That's nine years off from our current year 2012.

? This example uses four arithmetic symbols. The object is to use just three of the following arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in a line from 1 to 9 to get 2012 exactly. The operations should be performed in order from left to right. There are no tricks to this puzzle. Can you do it?

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Hobbies
KEYWORDS: math; npr; puzzle; yawn; yourtaxdollarsatwork
Someone might want to try this, but do not listen to NPR. I just listen for the puzzle :)
1 posted on 01/29/2012 6:15:04 AM PST by SMGFan
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To: SMGFan
but do not listen to NPR. I just listen for the puzzle :)

Yeah, and you just read Playboy for the articles, right?

2 posted on 01/29/2012 6:27:42 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo
Yeah, and you just read Playboy for the articles, right?

Playboy has articles????

3 posted on 01/29/2012 7:00:52 AM PST by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: SMGFan
Write the digits from 1 to 9 in a line. If you put a plus sign after the 2, a times sign after the 4, and plus signs after the 6 and 8, the line shows 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9, which equals 2003. That's nine years off from our current year 2012.

Thanks. Electrifying stuff.

4 posted on 01/29/2012 7:00:59 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: SMGFan
They virtually give you the answer.

12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9 = 2003
-78 +89 = +11
+7 -9 = -2

so
12 + 34 x 56 + 7 +89 = 2012

ML/NJ

5 posted on 01/29/2012 7:08:22 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: ml/nj
They virtually give you the answer.
Ah, but not if you read the question properly, grasshopper ... "The object is to use just three of the following arithmetic operations ...
6 posted on 01/29/2012 7:12:16 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: SMGFan

You guys are reminding me why I had to drop Trig in high school.


7 posted on 01/29/2012 7:20:01 AM PST by duckman (Go Newt...)
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To: SMGFan

Arithmetic on Sunday morning? Sadists.


8 posted on 01/29/2012 7:21:08 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: oh8eleven
Stupid puzzle!

ML/NJ

9 posted on 01/29/2012 7:39:30 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: SMGFan
The operations should be performed in order from left to right. There are no tricks to this puzzle.

But 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9 = 2003 requires that the multiplication be done before the addition operations. So which is it, left to right or multiplication first?

10 posted on 01/29/2012 7:58:36 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Herman Cain: possibly the escapee most dangerous to the Democrats since Frederick Douglass.)
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To: KarlInOhio
But 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9 = 2003 requires that the multiplication be done before the addition operations. So which is it, left to right or multiplication first?

Multiplication and division over addition and subtraction. A "puzzle" that depends on violating order of operations isn't really a puzzle.
11 posted on 01/29/2012 8:01:01 AM PST by aruanan
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To: KarlInOhio

“...left to right or multiplication first.”

Multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, in that order, in the absence of parentheses.


12 posted on 01/29/2012 8:05:52 AM PST by VietVet (I am old enough to know who I am and what I believe, and I 'm not inclined to apologize for any of)
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To: SMGFan

13 posted on 01/29/2012 8:11:47 AM PST by Daffynition (When I was a chiId was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it)
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To: aruanan
Well, I went through all 390625 possible combinations of operators or their absence between the nine digits. Three came up with the right result (and two more had the "right" result, but only because the program I used rounded down fractional results) , but only one had three operators.

Highlight the following line to see the result.

1234-5-6+789=2012
The order of operations never came up because there is no multiplication.

End of answer.

14 posted on 01/29/2012 8:37:53 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Herman Cain: possibly the escapee most dangerous to the Democrats since Frederick Douglass.)
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To: SMGFan
I missed the puzzle this morning. Thanks for posting it.

As for listening to NPR, I'll flip it on when everyone else is on break. Occasionally, I find a diamond in the rough, and they're doing something you might expect from them if you honestly didn't know that they're just a bastion of liberalism.

15 posted on 01/29/2012 8:59:50 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: KarlInOhio
But 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9 = 2003 requires that the multiplication be done before the addition operations. So which is it, left to right or multiplication first?

I was responding to the above that showed operators.
16 posted on 01/29/2012 2:46:36 PM PST by aruanan
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To: KarlInOhio

Nicely done.


17 posted on 01/30/2012 11:38:39 AM PST by EasySt (2012... Sometimes you have to flush twice.)
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