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        riddles >> microsoft >> Fruit Addition
        
(Message started by: kiki lee on Jun 25^th, 2003, 9:53am)

Title: Fruit Addition
Post by kiki lee on Jun 25^th, 2003, 9:53am

This is a interview question from MS
p e a r
a p p l e
l e m o n
+ b a n a n a
-------------
= o r a n g e

Each letter represents a different number from 0-9, p,a,l,b,o will not be zero. What is the number for each letter

Thread title modified by James 2003-09-17

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by Moonz on Jul 28^th, 2003, 11:44am

Solved by brute force :
[hide]
A=8 B=1 E=7 G=6 L=4 M=5 N=0 O=3 P=9 R=2
[/hide]

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by somu on Aug 12^th, 2003, 6:37am

Would u like to tell me how did u solve that ?
Hope that was't come out of trial & error method .....

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by towr on Aug 12^th, 2003, 7:31am

as he said, brute force.
brute force = (use a computer to) try every possible answer, and take the (first) one(s) that actually solves the problem

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by Armtusk J on Sep 17^th, 2003, 10:19am

The above problem cannot be solved if the letters are all positive numbers (0-9) and 'a' is not 0. Since the last letter of the total is 'e' (orange) and it is the sum of 'e' + 'n' + 'a' and since 'a' > 0, then 'e' must also be > 0 which is impossible unless 'n' < 0, which then disagrees with the given requirements.

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by James Fingas on Sep 17^th, 2003, 10:32am

In the solution, you are allowed to "carry". That means that 'a' + 'e' + 'n' must be 10 or 20.

Title: Re: MS question1
Post by Sir Col on Sep 26^th, 2003, 5:39pm

To confirm Moonz's result, there is one solution:
pear+apple+lemon+banana=orange 9782+89947+47530+180808=328067

OR

pear 9782 apple 89947 lemon 47530 banana 180808 ______ ______ orange 328067