Mathematics desk
< October 24	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Mathematics Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 25

Backsolving.

Given the numbers 5 5 6 12 come up with the answer of 24 using BODMAS. Each number can be used once only. Numbers can be used in any sequence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.13.246.169 (talk) 16:09, 25 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

(5+5-6)!

. 68.0.147.114 (talk) 07:28, 26 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Based on BODMAS I guess factorial is not allowed. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:52, 26 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's possible using multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. 68.0.147.114 (talk) 22:00, 26 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This is essentially the numbers game on countdown (game show) - the closest that a brute force online solver can get is 25 or 23, which suggests it's impossible. Edited because apparently using the URL with the parameters in already gives a 403 errorMChesterMC (talk) 08:52, 27 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]