Comments on Blaine's Puzzle Blog: A Puzzle for Leap Day, 2008 -- Can you make 97?

Seems so easy in hindsight!

2008-03-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Seems so easy in hindsight!

Great solution. I started with the same premise -...

2008-03-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Great solution. I started with the same premise - 96 was a good starting point. The connection between the factorial and percent eluded me. Thanks for an entertaining puzzle!

My stategy was to work backwards... you figure tha...

2008-03-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

My stategy was to work backwards... you figure that you are 1 away from 96, that's a good number since it has lots of factors. So 0! + something...

I then realized that 96 was 80% of 120. Hmm... and 120 is 5!, can I use that?

Answer:
(0! / .2)! * .8 + 0!

Is there any specific strategy, without just guess...

2008-03-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

Is there any specific strategy, without just guess and check?

You've got the idea but just aren't there yet. It ...

2008-03-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

You've got the idea but just aren't there yet. It is possible with exactly 4 digits, using the rules given. (P.S. There's a slight typo in your second equation.)

I can figure it out several ways with an extra 2, ...

2008-03-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

I can figure it out several ways with an extra 2, but not using just the digits available:

((8-0!)^2)*2-0!=97
or
(0!+2)!*8*2-0!=97