Urgent help for desperate child: Using four 6s and + , - , divide, x2 , ( ),...

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Simona

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To anyone out there who can kindly help with the answers to this question within the next 7hrs. Hugely grateful.


Question

Using four 6s and as many of + , - , divide, x2 , ( ) , make each number from 1 to 20 .

Child can't do 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20.

Could you, please, help?

Thanks very much!

Simona
 
Hi Simona,
I'm wondering where this question comes from and what will happen if it's not answered completely.

Lev
 
Simona said:
Using four 6s and as many of + , - , divide, x2 , ( ) , make each number from 1 to 20 .

Child can't do 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20.
Click to expand...

This kind of riddle is just a matter of trial and error. It really shouldn't be assigned with any penalty attached; it should be something to try for fun. But when it is assigned, it is intended to give practice in perseverance, and in doing a lot of arithmetic; any direct help short-circuits that.

So the only kind of help I would be comfortable giving would be if you showed us all her answers and we could say things like, "Try doing something like what you did for 17", or "have you considered using parentheses?" These are the kinds of questions I would be asking myself; after I find a way to make a number, I look for ways to modify that style to make others; and if I get stuck, I step back and think about ideas I haven't tried yet.

But I'm not sure of the rules (another reason examples would help). Are you really not allowed to multiply? But you are allowed to use an exponent of 2 in addition to the 6's? I'd like to see the exact wording as assigned, to make sure we aren't missing something.
 
Simona said:
To anyone out there who can kindly help with the answers to this question within the next 7hrs. Hugely grateful.


Question

Using four 6s and as many of + , - , divide, x2 , ( ) , make each number from 1 to 20 .

Child can't do 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20.

Could you, please, help?

Thanks very much!

Simona
Click to expand...

Frankly, if those are possibly, you already proved your mettle with the solutions to 10 and 18. Keep trying!
 
I've been working at these off an on, and so far have found answers for all except 14, 15, and 17. I agree with tkhunny -- you seem to have done pretty well! There may or may not be solutions for all of them; there are no guarantees in this sort of thing. So don't let this discourage either of you.
 
lev888 said:
I'm assuming those and x2
Click to expand...

But not multiplication. Just add, subtract, divide, square.

It isn't stated whether you can concatenate digits, or have to treat the 6's as numbers. I got 17 as 66/6+6, which is probably not legal.
 
Denis said:
How did you get 16?
I can do it (I think!) using 3 6's:
[(6+6)/6]^2^2 = 16 ....legal?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming all 4 need to be used.
If you got 2, 16 is easy - just square twice.
Also, whatever you can do with 3 6's you can do with 4 - just use 62/6 instead of one 6.
 
Thinking outside the square... can the 6 be turned upside down to be a 9 ??

If so, 14 = 9 + 6 - 6/6 !!
 
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