OT-Simple Math Question

Stolen from this week's "Car Talk" Puzzler.

See how quickly you can create a balanced equation using just just one each of the digits 2,3,4 and 5 along with one "+" sign and one "=" sign?

Jeff

Well, seeing as it says you can't use OTHER signs. 3-2+4=5

C'mon, where did you get that minus sign from?

That's not the answer.

Try again using just the six characters I listed, and only once each.

Jeff

2 3 = 5 + 4

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Sorry, it looked like brain teasers from when I was a kid where it gives you an instruction set, but doesn't limit you to those instructions in an attempt to get you to 'think outside the box'. And as what you had posted did not prevent you from adding other symbols I added one. Since you have clarified that isn't allowed, read the other reply that the nice other gentleman left. Todd

Probably a trick question

4+5=3 with the 2 superscripted to mean 3 raised to the 2nd power or 3 squared aka 9.

Jay the pig

2+5=3+4

Uh, 2+5=3+4 .. duh ..

2=/1

That is, they said *one* plus sign.

Jim

Cute.

:)

Jim

Duh yourself. I see 2 (count em two ) + in your try. ...lew...

45=23+

5+2=3+4 7 = 7

Martin

I will lay odds that is the correct answer. In fact, I am so sure I just e-mailed it into Car Talk. :-)

That makes two plus signs.

Nice! Reminds me, by the way, of a cute limerick:

(12 + 144 + 20 + 3 * sqrt(4)) / 7 + 5 * 11 = sqr(9) + 0

-tih

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 00:16:07 -0400, "Glenn Ashmore" calmly ranted:

2 + 3 = 45 in "the new Liberal math", where everyone is right and everyone feels good. Look OUT, engineering schools.

-- Like they say, 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. ------------------------------------------------------

Lawyer-free Website Development

2+3=5

This uses >

That's the one I came up with on my own too.

But hey! I just thought of another one more appropriate to the newsgroup.

3-2=5-4

Achieved by using whatever tools need to be brought to the party to disassemble the fasteners at the intersection of the two pparts of the "+" to get two "-" signs.

Another mammary awakened in me...

Remember when "New Math" came into being? IIRC 'twas in the 60s.

Tom Lehrer said it in song.

It's a 4.2 meg download, but worth it if you've got the speed and time:

Jeff