{"id":6155,"date":"2020-03-22T13:53:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T13:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mathsweek.ie\/2019\/?page_id=6155"},"modified":"2021-11-29T15:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T15:40:01","slug":"daily-24-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mathsweek.ie\/2025\/daily-24-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"The 24 Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Daily 24 Puzzle<\/p><\/h1><\/span>

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24<\/strong> is a good game to practice your arithmetic. It is usually played by dealing four playing cards, but car license plates in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are ideal for it.<\/p>\n

The aim is to make 24 using the set of numbers to the right of the plate. You can use addition, subtraction, division and multiplication, but you must use all of the digits.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be surprised how many of them can make up 24.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Variations<\/h4>\n

For younger players<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

If you cant make 24 \u2013<\/p>\n

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  • How close can you get?<\/li>\n
  • Can you make 24 if you don\u2019t use all the digits?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    For older players<\/strong>, additional rules you might like to use<\/p>\n

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    1. Use powers and roots Xy<\/sup> y<\/sub>\u221aX\u00a0 (To raise something to a power the exponent (if needed) must also be present. For example, to square a number a 2 must be available. To take the cube root of a number a 3 must be available)<\/li>\n
    2. You may link adjacent numbers to form multi-digit numbers as long as the order is kept. For example: 1221 could become 12*2*1<\/li>\n
    3. You can use factorials ie 4! = 4*3*2*1 = 24<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      There are a few not-so-obvious \u201ctricks\u201d that you can do with moves 1. and 3.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>