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News | April 17, 2018

April 2018 Puzzle Periodical - 'APRIL = MATH'

By Benjamin E., NSA Mathematician

Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month Challenge

Creator Challenge Difficulty Rating: Easy

 

April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. Here's a word of the month challenge for you:

A mathematical way to write this statement is: "APRIL = MATH."

Let's find out how true this statement is. Can you replace each letter with its place in the alphabet (A=1, P=16, R=18, I=9, L=12, M=13, T=20, H=8), and insert a plus or minus sign between each pair of adjacent letters so that the equation is true?

For example, 1+16+18-9-12 = 13-1+20+8 does not work, because the left side evaluates to 14 while the right side evaluates to 40.

Click to see the answer!

Solution

There are three solutions:

A+P-R-I+L = M+A-T+H 1+16-18-9+12 = 13+1-20+8
A-P+R+I-L = M-A-T+H 1-16+18+9-12 = 13-1-20+8
A-P+R+I+L = M-A+T-H 1-16+18+9+12 = 13-1+20-8

Happy Math Month!


Did you enjoy this NSA Puzzle Periodical?

If your friends and family would also like to try this math and logic challenge, look for NSA's Puzzle Periodical on the third Tuesday of every month on www.nsa.gov.

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