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I got that quiz the other day and struggled to solve it.

you have a list of integers and operators:

1, 1, 6, 3, 9, 0, 8, 0, 2, 9, (, ), +, +, -, =

You have to use every item of that list exactly once. Fill the blanks to get an equation. There are already two operators at the correct places.

_ _ _ _ * _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Please don't tell me the solution(s), but rather how you would go about such a problem.

smnk
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1 Answers1

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My first though was stuff*0=0/stuff but that doesn't work because there are only two spaces between * and / Those two spaces have to get digits. Now note there are ten digits and eight symbols. There are four blanks before the * What can the pattern of digits and symbols be? What does each pattern leave over for the ending ten spaces? The parentheses can go against other symbols.

I believe problems like this should promise you a unique solution, but I have a whole family of them. Some might disallow it. I suspect my family does not exhaust the possibilities, but it makes me less interested in searching.

Ross Millikan
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