excel - can you show me how to use it to get a particular answer?

Mumstheword

Can anyone help please?

I want to get my pc to perform a numbers task for me, and presume I would do that in excel.

It's nothing important!! But it's bugging me that I should know how to do this.

I'm doing the brainteaser in the Arms, and want the pc to generate me some numbers as follows:

I want two sets of numbers, a,b,c, and x,y,z, where:

a*b*c = x*y*z, and is less than about 70, and
a+b+c = x+y+z


Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Mumxx

Stompa

I want two sets of numbers, a,b,c, and x,y,z, where:

a*b*c = x*y*z, and is less than about 70, and
a+b+c = x+y+z

I'm not sure Excel would be a particularly easy way to solve this. Presumably there are some other constraints, otherwise there are many obvious solutions, e.g.

a=0, b=0, c=0, x=0, y=0, z=0

a=1, b=1, c=1, x=1, y=1, z=1

or indeed many combinations of

a=x, b=y, c=z

Stompa

Mumstheword

None can be 0, and a,b,c cannot all be the same as x,y,z.

Thanks for your input Stompa, I think I'll give up!

Apparently someone has the right answer in the Arms now, so I'll ask them how they arrived at it!


Thanks again,
Mumxx

Mumstheword

No!!! You aren't too late!

I've thrown in the towel on the Arms teaser thread, but you could have a go!

How did you reach your (mistaken) answer? Might help to get to a right answer if you type it out on here?