I'm not sure how to clue this... but I'm going to say 865 or 2619.Q: This week's challenge is s a numerical challenge for a change. Take the digits 2, 3, 4, and 5. Arrange them in some way using standard arithmetic operations to make 2,025. Can you do it?
Sunday, January 05, 2025
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 5, 2025): Math Fun in 2025
NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 5, 2025): Math Fun in 2025
130 comments:
For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.
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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI guess so. But it's such an obvious approach.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteARGH! That's the only clue I was able to come up with, and now you've fricken taken it.
DeleteSolved, but I think I've haven't strictly followed the criteria.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI can get to 2025 easily using the 2 4 and 5....what do you do with the 3 ? Is the comma a clue?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"Over 1000" correct entries this week. (How many significant digits in that number, I wonder?)
ReplyDeleteEveryone, please read the guidelines below. "You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving."
ReplyDeleteSorry, Blaine. I will try to make it up to you.
DeleteHard to clue. Say the answer in words. If you rearrange the last letters of the words the way _I_ say them, you get two words for a boon a florist might give.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else noticed how useless ChatGPT is on this?
I remembered your comment from last week and went from there.
DeleteI tried both ChatGPT and Gemini and they both gave wildly incorrect answers with basic incorrect addition. Perhaps these programs are actually smarter than that and trying to lower humans' expectations so they can more easily take over the world.
DeleteIt took Chat GPT a long time for me. Had to give some hints.
DeleteOh, wow.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I think Blaine is right to be very strict. Even a small hint can go a long way in this one. (Although I've liked the clues I've seen! Didn't see Jan's before it disappeared.)
I like the puzzle. The solution is quite elegant. I do wish Will (or the NPR Puzzle web page) had been a bit more explicit about which arithmetic operations are 'standard'.
Agree about "standard" operations. Also, it wasn't immediately clear to me if the numbers could be used more than once.
DeleteOr not used.
DeleteI have an answer that works. As I can see by the number of comment removals, providing a clue will be more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI would also appreciate if NPR/Will had provided what is permitted within "standard" mathematical operations. Multivariable calculus and trigonometric functions are standard in some fields of work.
DeleteI see a lot of comments that have been beaten by the stick of the blog administrator. Careful what you say, folks!
DeleteTrying again….
ReplyDeleteThere are several possible solutions, but only one, which, admittedly, can be expressed in different ways, meets all of Joe’s criteria.
The year-in-review puzzle used to be a lot harder when Will just gave the names of the people who had their moments in the sun. I like the easier version. Speaking of review, that's a good strategy for Blainesvillians looking to solve Lego's nice mathematical puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNeed clarification. Use each of the four digits once, or mutiple times ?
ReplyDeleteAll four digits, used exactly once.
DeleteTo be fair the question does not instruct that they be used only once each, but I do believe that was implied for the intended answer. But someone is fond of pointing out information that wasn't in the text!
DeleteIf you could use them more than once there would be hundreds of correct permutations.
A useful and important fact for the solution of this puzzle is almost elementary, and first stated amicably.
ReplyDeleteSolved.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably TMI
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThanks, JAWS. I didn't think it was tmi either!
DeleteWW's comment pointed me to the answer
DeleteHart-less.
DeleteYes, deer.
DeleteI re-read/saw the puzzle exactly as Will said it, on the npr site. He said ALL digits needed to be used— but he did NOT say they could be used only once. If that’s what was intended, I respectfully suggest that should have been made clearer, stressed more strongly. I agree that there might be some confusion.
ReplyDeleteAnd HNY to all!
Thank you, Diz.
DeleteAll four digits need to be used, but each but once.
LegoWhoGivesTheThumbsUpToFourDigits:1.)IndexFinger2.)Middle(Or"Avian"AsILikeToCallIt)Finger3.)RingFinger4.)PinkyFingerButWhoIsOpposedToThatFifthDigitKnownAsTheOpposableThumb(WhichIsIronicForSomeOneWhoBeganThisSillySignOffByGivingYouAllTheThumbsUp!
Oh, so my answer with 404 "+" signs was no good. Darn. All that wasted typing. :)
ReplyDeleteI’m reminded of one of my favorite songs from 1964-65.
ReplyDeleteAnd Hershey’s…
Congrats once again, lego!
Not a favorite, but I was thinking more like 1986.
DeleteHuh, I was thinking 1975 and 1989! But I wouldn't fight about it.
DeleteHey, I’m an English professor trying to solve a math problem. The definition of pathos😁😁!
ReplyDeleteSo was I.
DeleteIn my case, solving it was probably dumb luck, although a little logos didn't hurt.
I wonder how Dr. Awkward is doing....
Now you know how I feel as a former math professor trying to solve language problems each week!
DeleteI’m an English professor, trying to solve a math puzzle: the definition of pathos!!
ReplyDeleteSorry about duplication of comment—I sent just once, but it appeared again. Mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteI could name a certain game show, but I fear that would get deleted, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult puzzle to clue. I have but a small contribution to make: the digits do not appear in numerical order.
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to say, Congratulations, Lego. You've added to your already high batting average with Will :)
ReplyDeleteHm. Now modify your solution to use the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 each exactly once.
ReplyDeleteI was just about to say that it might have been a tad more elegant to state the puzzle as, "Take the digits 1 through 5 . . . ."
DeleteYes, though afaik there might be non-trivial new solutions using the "1" ...
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ReplyDeleteI saw a picture of a phonograph with the caption, "If you were born in 33, you were 45 in 78."
DeleteNow that's a puzzle idea, jan!
DeleteTry: If you were born in 33, you were __ in '__.
or: If you were born in __, you were 45 in '__.
or If you were born in __, you were __ in '78.
Fill in the blanks with two missing numbers that are associated with the third.
LegoWhoSuggestsThatjanDeleteHisPostThenI'llDeleteMineAndThenjanWillSendThePuzzleToWillWhoWillHappilyUseItOnNationalPublicRadioAndInTheMeantimejanAndIShallDeleteOurPostsButNotBeforeScoresOfBlainesvilliansHaveReadThePuzzleAndWillSubmitTheirCorrectAnswersAndPlay"ThePuzzle"OnAirWithWillAndAyesha!
For the sake of clarity: Are only +,-,*,and / allowed and can the numbers be combined? Can you use 54 as a number for example?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteIt doesn't say. If you are getting stuck, keep questioning your assumptions.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteSeems like this puzzle is more about "can I guess the rules" vs. am I good at math.
DeleteRG The puzzle is a a fair one, no tricks involved. The operations are all usual arithmetic/algebra ones.
DeleteI'm not a math enthusiast, but I came up with a couple variations that work
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSince we are talking about dates, and attaching significance to the order of numbers, I have to bring up the opening chapter of "The Confessions of Zeno" by the "real" Italo Svevo (although his name was actually Aron Schmitz) in which he discusses his attempts to give up smoking:
ReplyDeleteThat disease brought me the second of my afflictions: the effort of freeing myself from the first one. . . . On the frontispiece of a dictionary I find this beautiful written and somewhat ornate inscription:
«Today, February 2, 1886, I changed from the study of law to the study of chemistry. Last cigarette!!».
That was an important last cigarette. I remember all the hopes that accompanied it. I was fed up with the legal canons that seemed so far removed from life and ran to science, which dealt with life, although reduced to a test tube. That last cigarette signified my desire for a life of activity (and manual work) and for serene, sober and hard thought.
I later returned to the law in order to escape the chain of the combinations of carbon which I could never comprehend. . . . That was an error which was also celebrated with a last cigarette which I memorialized by recording the date in another book. . . .
Once, when I changed rooms as a student, I had to pay for the recovering of the walls of the room because I had covered them with dates. I probably had to leave that room because it had become the cemetery of my good intentions; I did not believe that it would be possible to form any new plans to replace those that had gone before them. . . .
The dates on the walls of my room were inscribed in various colors and also in oils. The resolution, repeated each time with even more naive faith, expressed itself in the force of the color that had to outshine the one that had gone before. Certain dates appealed to me because of the harmony of the numbers. I remember one date in the last century memory of which seemed to seal the coffin into which I wanted to put my vice: "The ninth day of the ninth month of 1899." The new century brought me particularly musical dates: "The first day of the first month of 1901." Even today it seems to me that if that date could return, I would know how to begin a new life.
But there is no shortage of dates in the calendar and with a little imagination it was always possible to find some that had a certain balance. I remember, because it seemed to me contained a supreme categorical imperative, the following: "The third day of the sixth month of 1912, 24th hour." Each figure doubled the preceding one. . . .
Many of the dates that I recorded in books or on the backs of pictures stand out for their asymmetry. As an example, the third day of the second month of 1905 at six o'clock! It has a recognizable rhythm because every single figure denies the previous one. Many events, indeed all, from the death of Pius IX to the birth of my son, seemed to me worth celebrating with the usual iron resolution. Everyone in my family marvels at my ability to remember anniversaries, both happy and sad, and think I am such a good person for it!
(Thanks for indulging me with this ultima citazione.)
I found submitting the answer could be as challenging as the puzzle itself.
ReplyDeleteI have an answer where all numbers are used once. A math purest, though, would argue that a second 2 is needed.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think not (speaking as a math purest).
DeleteAny spelling purIsts thinking what I'm thinking?
DeleteSheesh, darn autocorrect!
DeleteI do believe I've solved it! And this conversation confirms my answer. I think one has to be a real nerd to get it.
DeleteMaybe nerd isn't quite the right word. But I think iykyk.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGood puzzle, Lego. A welcome respite from lists and anagrams.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year to my fellow bloggers….. The operation(s) I used for my answer conjure(s) up a place that would make this a rather apt puzzle.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, can you use parenthesis in the solution?
ReplyDeleteOr do you have to come up with a solution that follows PEMDAS?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteAnything you see in a math equation is fair game.
DeleteWhat's the record for greatest quantity of post deletions in one thread?
ReplyDeleteSurely this week is in the running for most deletions.
DeleteI think Blaine needs to delete some posts in last week's blog, from before the new puzzle was posted!
DeleteYes, and more here today. Let's smash that deletion record!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGood question. Does anyone know?
DeleteThis week, there are 15 deletions thus far.
Make that 20 deletions thus far.
DeleteReminds me of that Disney movie: One Hundred and One Deletions.
DeleteWell spotted, SDB.
DeleteCrito, I am laughing now because I was anticipating using that exact response if someone corrected my above spelling. So congratulations to beating me to it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteBlaine?
ReplyDeleteWe just accepted a new horse for boarding, and one of the resident horses lunged for the newcomer. I think I heard my wife mutter, “Darn equines.”
ReplyDeleteGadsby
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't mean to slight Mr. Young, but I don't do math puzzles. I'm sure there is a clever way to get the answer, but I'm not about to get involved. If this were Puzzleria!, I would definitely ask for hints in my first post on the blog. But since the blog administrator is on the loose this week, I fear I couldn't do this one if I wanted to. To paraphrase Samuel Goldwyn, puzzlers, include me out.
ReplyDeletepjbIsSureJosephHasANiceNumericalPuzzle,ButNoCanDoThisTime(Sorry!)
I have it...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI love it!
DeleteI just solved it, too, it being the kind of fun I like to have with math.
DeleteVery nice, Mister E!
DeleteLegoogolPlexiGlassyEyedGiveItAnA+
I'm glad I got to enjoy Mister E's post before it was removed!
DeleteI think the number of correct answers will be lower than most people expect.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI hope Blaine doesn't delete me. I'm going back to the universal clue -- e
ReplyDeleteAlways glad to see the universal clue! It's pretty much undeletable, since the connection can be made in so many unpredictable ways. Kinda like using Bob Dylan as a musical clue.
DeleteMovie Reference: Do The Right Thing
ReplyDeleteI know very, very little about math, but I believe I finally figured it out by trial and error.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdxow3-k04&t=8s
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of an old hymn.
ReplyDeleteOf all the weeks in a year only one includes a day whose name is also a command.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete... and the birthday of a friend, she is very proud of its uniqueness!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI don't like to lead, so I'll March 2nd.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI do believe I heard that joke on "Laugh-In"!
DeleteIf so, it was... over a half century ago.
I think you’re right. As I said, an old joke.
DeleteI believe Robinson Crusoe could say it 4 or 5 times a year….
DeleteThe deleted dates in this thread remind me of May 35th.
DeleteIsn't that the day each year we all wonder what happened to May 32, 33 & 34?
DeleteIt means something else in China.
DeleteCome Thursday at 3pm EST, hopefully someone much smarter than me will explain all the deletions in this conversation. I'm really confused.
Deletejan, oh so good.
DeleteMy solution procedure was a backward deconstruction, but I couldn't find the crucial first step until I saw a now deleted comment.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMusical Clue: Clair de Lune
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are math phobic. Maybe a third of that, tops.
DeleteWith how many comments have been deleted, folks need to do a better job keeping the answer a secret.
ReplyDeleteAn elegant puzzle. Can be done with 3 numbers also.
ReplyDeleteRIP Peter Yarrow. I remember watching Peter, Paul, and Mary flub the lyrics to "Blowin' In The Wind" on the steps of the US Capitol, in the Spring of 1971, probably because they were as stoned as the rest of us there were.
ReplyDeleteOnly Paul now.
Delete