Year 3 to Year 6: Button Up Some More
Write down the number 4, four times.
Put operation symbols between them so that you have a calculation.
So you might think of writing 4×4×4−4=60
BUT use operations so that the answer is 12
Now, can you redo this so that you get 15, 16 and 17 for your answers?
Need more of a challenge? Try getting answers all the way from 0 through to 10.
12=(44+4)÷4 – Here’s one solution!
16=4+4+4+4
17=(4×4)+(4÷4)
1=(4÷4)×(4÷4)
2=(4/4) + (4/4)
3=(4+4+4)÷4
6=((4+4)÷4)+4
7=(44÷4)−4
8=(4×4)−4−4
9=(4÷4)+4+4
15=(4×4)−(4÷4)
Then I came to a problem. I couldn’t do 4, 5 and 10. Then I realised that I had only used the simple operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Then I remembered about square root, factorial and powers. An example of factorial is:
4!=4×3×2×1
The first square root I tried was 4, then I realised I needed a few more. Taking these into account, I was able to do the last few problems.
4=(√4+4+4+4)
5=(√4!+(4÷4)4)
10=(√4!+(4÷4)×4)