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History: Mathematical Game Equation Numbers Digits Letters

Cryptarithms are mathematical puzzles where letters represent digits. The goal is to deduce the digit each letter represents. A classic example is SEND+MORE=MONEY, where the solution is O=0, M=1, etc. Solving cryptarithms involves logical deductions based on properties of arithmetic, such as carries between columns, until reaching a unique solution. They provide examples to illustrate algorithmic concepts like brute force search and backtracking.

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240 views

History: Mathematical Game Equation Numbers Digits Letters

Cryptarithms are mathematical puzzles where letters represent digits. The goal is to deduce the digit each letter represents. A classic example is SEND+MORE=MONEY, where the solution is O=0, M=1, etc. Solving cryptarithms involves logical deductions based on properties of arithmetic, such as carries between columns, until reaching a unique solution. They provide examples to illustrate algorithmic concepts like brute force search and backtracking.

Uploaded by

GiriprasathEnt GiriprasathEnt
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cryptarithm or word addition, is a type of mathematical game consisting

of a mathematical equation among unknown numbers, whose digits are


represented by letters. The goal is to identify the value of each letter. The
name can be extended to puzzles that use non-alphabetic symbols instead
of letters.
The equation is typically a basic operation of arithmetic, such
as addition, multiplication, or division. The classic example, published in the
July 1924 issue of Strand Magazine by Henry Dudeney,[1] is:

The solution to this puzzle is O = 0, M = 1, Y = 2, E = 5, N = 6, D = 7, R =


8, and S = 9.
Traditionally, each letter should represent a different digit, and (as in
ordinary arithmetic notation) the leading digit of a multi-digit number must
not be zero. A good puzzle should have a unique solution, and the letters
should make up a phrase (as in the example above).
Verbal arithmetic can be useful as a motivation and source of exercises in
the teaching of algebra.
………………………

History[edit]
Cryptarithmic puzzles are quite old and their inventor is not known. An
1864 example in The American Agriculturist[2]disproves the popular notion
that it was invented by Sam Loyd. The name "cryptarithm" was coined by
puzzlist Minos (pseudonym of Simon Vatriquant) in the May 1931 issue of
Sphinx, a Belgian magazine of recreational mathematics, and was
translated as "cryptarithmetic" by Maurice Kraitchik in 1942.[3] In 1955, J. A.
H. Hunter introduced the word "alphametic" to designate cryptarithms, such
as Dudeney's, whose letters form meaningful words or phrases.[4]

Types of cryptarithms[edit]
Types of cryptarithm include the alphametic, the digimetic, and the skeletal
division.
Alphametic
A type of cryptarithm in which a set of words is written down in the
form of a long addition sum or some other mathematical problem.The
object is to replace the letters of the alphabet with decimal digits to
make a valid arithmetic sum.
Digimetic
A cryptarithm in which digits are used to represent other digits.
Skeletal division
A long division in which most or all of the digits are replaced by
symbols (usually asterisks) to form a cryptarithm.
Reverse cryptarithm
A rare variation where a formula is written, and the solution is the
corresponding cryptarithm whose solution is the formula given.

………….

Solving cryptarithms[edit]
Solving a cryptarithm by hand usually involves a mix of
deductions and exhaustive tests of possibilities. For instance
the following sequence of deductions solves Dudeney's
SEND+MORE = MONEY puzzle above (columns are
numbered from right to left):

1. From column 5, M = 1 since it is the only carry-over possible from the


sum of two single digit numbers in column 4.
2. Since there is a carry in column 5, O must be less than or equal to M
(from column 4). But O cannot be equal to M, so O is less than M.
Therefore O = 0.
3. Since O is 1 less than M, S is either 8 or 9 depending on whether
there is a carry in column 4. But if there were a carry in column 4, N
would be less than or equal to O (from column 3). This is impossible
since O = 0. Therefore there is no carry in column 3 and S = 9.
4. If there were no carry in column 3 then E = N, which is impossible.
Therefore there is a carry and N = E + 1.
5. If there were no carry in column 2, then ( N + R ) mod 10 = E, and N
= E + 1, so ( E + 1 + R ) mod 10 = E which means ( 1 + R ) mod 10 =
0, so R = 9. But S = 9, so there must be a carry in column 2 so R = 8.
6. To produce a carry in column 2, we must have D + E = 10 + Y.
7. Y is at least 2 so D + E is at least 12.
8. The only two pairs of available numbers that sum to at least 12 are
(5,7) and (6,7) so either E = 7 or D = 7.
9. Since N = E + 1, E can't be 7 because then N = 8 = R so D = 7.
10. E can't be 6 because then N = 7 = D so E = 5 and N = 6.
11. D + E = 12 so Y = 2.
The use of modular arithmetic often helps. For example, use of mod-10
arithmetic allows the columns of an addition problem to be treated
as simultaneous equations, while the use of mod-2 arithmetic allows
inferences based on the parity of the variables.
In computer science, cryptarithms provide good examples to illustrate
the brute force method, and algorithms that generate
all permutations of m choices from n possibilities. For example, the
Dudeney puzzle above can be solved by testing all assignments of eight
values among the digits 0 to 9 to the eight letters S,E,N,D,M,O,R,Y, giving
1,814,400 possibilities. They also provide good examples
for backtracking paradigm of algorithm design.

Other information[edit]
When generalized to arbitrary bases, the problem of determining if a
cryptarithm has a solution is NP-complete.[5] (The generalization is
necessary for the hardness result because in base 10, there are only 10!
possible assignments of digits to letters, and these can be checked against
the puzzle in linear time.)
Alphametics can be combined with other number puzzles such as Sudoku
and Kakuro to create cryptic Sudoku and Kakuro.

Longest alphametics[edit]
Anton Pavlis constructed an alphametic in 1983 with 41 addends:
SO+MANY+MORE+MEN+SEEM+TO+SAY+THAT+
THEY+MAY+SOON+TRY+TO+STAY+AT+HOME+
SO+AS+TO+SEE+OR+HEAR+THE+SAME+ONE+
MAN+TRY+TO+MEET+THE+TEAM+ON+THE+
MOON+AS+HE+HAS+AT+THE+OTHER+TEN
=TESTS
(The answer is that TRANHYSMOE=9876543210.)[6]

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