May 2024
Problem of the Month

The Fantastic Formula





1. Determine, by any convenient method, the value of each of the twenty-five variables below.

2. Substitute the value for each variable into the right-hand side of the equation and perform all indicated arithmetic operations.

Use the correct order of operations!

Hint: All 26 values are integers, including the variable z!




THE CLUES

a = normal body temperature in Celsius

b = the length of a side of a cube whose volume is 125 cm3

c = the value of 1F (base sixteen) in base ten

d = the base ten value of 5736 in base eight

e = the number of piano keys

f = the senses + the Great Lakes

g = (books in a trilogy) x (points in the Star of David)

h = fourscore x starting members of a basketball team

i = degrees in a circle ÷ degrees in a right angle

j = Snow White’s dwarfs + ____ Days in May (book title)

k = floor left out in most hotels x _____ seas

l = alphabet’s letters x dots in a colon

m = “A stitch in time saves _____”

n = freezing point of water (in Fahrenheit)

o = notes in an octave + circles of Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy

p = musketeers x baker’s dozen

q = books of the Bible - golden anniversary

r = blackbirds baked in a pie + golf course holes + two decades

s = bits in a half dollar x days in a week

t = field goal – safety (in football)

u = human adult’s teeth + lucky number + original colonies + Wilson’s points

v = Gospels + the Commandments + The Disciples

w = the R’s + legs of a bovine

x = wisdom teeth x each state’s senators to the U.S. Congress

y = checkerboard squares - Presidents on Mount Rushmore

Many thanks to Austin Hale from Grand Junction, Colorado for finding the error in clue i
(it needed to be the division symbol instead of the addition symbol!)

ALso, many thanks to Seth Cohen from Concord, New Hampshire for finding a problem with the formula.   It wasn't so fantastic after all!

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Send your solution by the end of the month to: mathpage@gmail.com