The 8, 8, 3, 3 Puzzle Solution

How’d it go? Did you solve it?

You are given the numbers 8, 8, 3 and 3. With only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division use the above numbers to yield 24

The trickiest part of this problem was getting around using parentheses. The clever way to do this is to implement division as a fraction bar which implies grouping, thus no need for parenthesis. You probably haven’t worked with that format for a while. It’s something you see in elementary school and not much afterwards which is what makes this problem so tricky.

If you had to resort to solving the puzzle using parentheses around 3–8/3, that’s okay. I would still give you a thumbs up because it was a tricky problem and you came a long way. Although with just one more tweak, you would have had it…just sayin’.

What helped me the most in solving this problem was realizing that 8 divided by 1/3 equaled 24. Then all I needed was to figure out how to use the remaining 8, 3 and 3 to obtain 1/3. A much simpler task.

Answer

Begin by rewriting 3 as 3/1 and then make a common denominator.

The common denominator will be 3. So multiply 3/1 by 3/3 to obtain 9/3.

Now we may subtract the two fractions.

Finally, divide 8 by 1/3. To do so multiply by the reciprocal of 1/3.

Lastly multiply straight across to yield 24.

Next Lesson: The Euclidean Algorithm