Question

add any three numbers of the following and answer should be 60
2 , 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, 58

Answer 1

What have you tried so far?

Answer 2

yea tried. but i didnt get

Answer 3

alright, let's start by getting rid of some choices that don't work. :)

Answer 4

k

Answer 5

we need to pick 3 numbers that add up to 60

Answer 6

so could we ever pick 58? or is that going to be too big?

Answer 7

for example, if I pick 58, then the smallest thing I could choose would be 2, but then I'm already at 60 with just two numbers, but I wanted to use three!

Answer 8

So, we can cross off 58 from the list, it can't ever work.

Answer 9

does that make sense?

Answer 10

of course, there's more, but I want to make sure you understand so far. :)

Answer 11

from 2 to 58 any three nos. must be added and answer should get 60. my lecturer gave this question. its like puzzle. im confused

Answer 12

OK, I understand, but do you see that we can never use 58 as one of our numbers? it's too big.

Answer 13

yes

Answer 14

OK, excellent! So we now only need to think about the numbers from 2 to 54. We've made things easier (just a little). :)

Answer 15

So, let's pretend that I pick 54 as my first number... can I pick a second and third number that will work? Or are we still too big?

Answer 16

54 + ? + ? = 60 Can we choose numbers that make this true?

Answer 17

Well, we can't pick 6 for the second number or else 54 + 6 = 60 TOO BIG!

Answer 18

And 2 doesn't work either, 54 + 2 + 2 = 58 TOO SMALL!

Answer 19

So, 54 is impossible :)

Answer 20

not same number

Answer 21

Oh, and there you go, so it's even more impossible!

Answer 22

one number should be used only once

Answer 23

yes i think so.

Answer 24

so cross off 54, it doesn't work :)

Answer 25

Now, we can keep doing this for each of the numbers.

Answer 26

You will find that 50, 46, and 42 do not work.

Answer 27

And neither does 38.

Answer 28

Let's try 34 as the first number.

Answer 29

If we pick 26 as the second we are too big... 34 + 26 = 60 TOO BIG!

Answer 30

yes

Answer 31

So maybe 22? 34 + 22 + ? = 60 means that 56 + ? = 60 ... nope... don't have a 4.

Answer 32

maybe 18? 34 + 18 = 52... nope don't have an 8... AHH!!! A little frustrating right? :)

Answer 33

But, we must be getting closer...

Answer 34

I'm still trying to find the answer too, so the game takes a little bit of time to figure out... :)

Answer 35

hmm... maybe I ruled one out that I shouldn't have...

Answer 36

im trying it n searching on net. still i didnt get

Answer 37

ok, me too :)

Answer 38

it might be an impossible puzzle... there might not be any combinations that work

Answer 39

actually, yes it is not possible to answer this question.... no combination exists.

Answer 40

ok

Answer 41

looks like your lecturer either made a mistake or was just trying to strain your brain. :)

Answer 42

you aren't imagining things though, I worked it out with some algebra and it is impossible as far as I can tell. :)

Answer 43

good work though, you persevered on a very difficult question!

Answer 44

I will post the reason it is impossible below, in case you or anyone else cares to know how I solved it. :)

Answer 45

The question wants three different numbers from the list that sum to 60. In other words,
X + Y + Z = 60.

Ask yourself, what do the numbers on the list look like? They look like 2, 6, 10, 14, etc. all of which can be calculated by the rule 2 + 4*(some whole number).

I will call X = 2 + 4*a, Y = 2 + 4*b, and Z = 2 + 4*c. Where a, b, c are whole numbers.

Then, substituting we would need
(2 + 4*a) + (2 + 4*b) + (2 + 4*c) = 60
6 + 4*a + 4*b + 4*c = 60
4*a + 4*b + 4*c = 54
4*(a + b + c) = 54
so,
a + b + c = 54/4.

But 54/4 is 13.5 which is NOT a whole number and it should be since a, b, and c are all whole numbers! Thus, the question is ridiculous and impossible to solve.

Answer 46

may be ur correct. i think my lecturer gave us the brain work.

Answer 47

probably :) it's certainly a good (but very frustrating) exercise.