Alphametics, first published in their modern form by
H. E. Dudeney in 1924, are a subset of
word/
math puzzles known as
cryptarithmetic puzzles presented in the form of a
sum. A
solution is the corresponding
integers which should replace the letters to make the
sum true.
Consider Dudeney's puzzle:
SEND
+MORE
-----
MONEY
Solution:
9567 (D=7, E=5, M=1, N=6, O=0, R=8, S=9, Y=2)
+1085
-----
10652
These
puzzles must conform to the following rules:
- The leftmost letter can not be zero in any word (in the above example, S and M are not equal to zero).
- There must be a one-to-one mapping between letters and digits.
The most elegant alphametics have only one solution. More impressive alphametics still are those which are doubly-true -- consider this example, provided by Michael Keith on his web site:
SEVEN
SEVEN
+ SIX
-----
TWENTY
Check out Michael Keith's page for more: http://members.aol.com/s6sj7gt/