[SMGFan]

Someone might want to try this, but do not listen to NPR. I just listen for the puzzle :)

[Yo-Yo]

but do not listen to NPR. I just listen for the puzzle :)

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

[martin_fierro]

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.

[ml/nj]

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

[duckman]

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

[blueunicorn6]

Arithmetic on Sunday morning? Sadists.

[KarlInOhio]

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?

[Daffynition]

[Tanniker Smith]

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.