JOIN USThere are many things that make my eyes pop out. When Usain Bolt finishes a race in just a few seconds, my jaw drops with wonder. When the cook in a hotel makes 27 dosas on one big pan in minutes, I am surprised. When a magician takes out a rabbit from an empty hat, I’m fascinated.
But these days my eyes pop out every time my friend Golu finishes a Math problem. He takes just a few seconds. You see, we are studying operations in class,
and he seems to love this chapter.
“Give me any set of numbers and a few operations like plus, minus, multiply, brackets and I can get you the number you want! Any number can be got from any set of numbers,” he said yesterday.
“Take 2, 1 and 17. Can you make them into 51?” I asked, picking numbers at random.
“Sure! (2+1) x 17 = 3 x 17 =51.”
Mona came in and said, “It’s not always possible, Golu. Anyway, let’s see if you can use 10, 14, 5 and 7 and the operations +,-, / , x and ( ) to get 15? You have to use all four numbers and all five operations in any order....”
While Golu scratched his head, I tried solving the sum too....can you help us?
Out of the maze: (14/7 x 10) - 5 =20 -5 =15. If the brackets are placed elsewhere the answer will be different. Eg: 14/7 x (10-5) = 2 x 5 =10!