Beth and the Cryptogram!

Logic Level 3

Beth and Will are good friends who enjoy playing tricks on each other. One day they were eating some food and when Will went away Beth locked the food away inside a safe with a combination lock on it. When Will returned he saw he had no food, but there was a safe and a cryptogram!

After solving the cryptogram and using some logic, Will opened the safe and enjoyed his food before it went cold!

B T H E × 3 3 7 7 T 8 E \large{\begin{array}{cccccc} & & \color{#E81990}B & \color{#E81990}T & \color{#E81990}H & \color{#E81990}E \\ \times & & & & 3 & 3 \\ \hline & 7 & 7 & \color{#E81990}T & 8 & \color{#E81990}E \\ \end{array}} Each letter represents a distinct natural number.

See if you can work out the combination for the safe. Enter the combination into the answer box.


The answer is 2534.

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1 solution

William Allen
Feb 6, 2019

Notice the solution is a multiple of 11 and 10 1 ( m o d 11 ) Solution can be written as 7 × 1 0 4 + 7 × 1 0 3 + T × 1 0 2 + 8 × 1 0 1 + E × 1 0 0 \text{ Notice the solution is a multiple of 11 and } 10\equiv -1 \pmod{11}\\ \text{Solution can be written as } \color{#E81990}7\times 10^{4} + 7\times 10^{3} + T\times 10^{2} + 8\times 10^{1} + \color{#E81990}E\times 10^{0} 10 1 ( m o d 11 ) 1 0 k 1 k ( m o d 11 ) 1 0 k 1 ( m o d 11 ) for even k, and 1 0 k 1 ( m o d 11 ) for odd k 7 + 7 T + 8 E 0 ( m o d 11 ) so T = 8 E 10\equiv -1 \pmod{11} \\ \Rightarrow 10^{k}\equiv -1^{k} \pmod{11} \\ \Rightarrow 10^{k}\equiv 1 \pmod{11} \text{ for even k, and } 10^{k}\equiv -1 \pmod{11} \text{ for odd k } \\ \Rightarrow \color{#E81990} -7 + 7 -\color{#E81990}T + 8 - \color{#E81990}E \equiv 0 \pmod{11} \text{ so } \color{#E81990}T = 8 - E 3 × E E ( m o d 10 ) and 5 × 3 = 15 is the only integer which has this property 3\times \color{#E81990}E\equiv \color{#E81990}E \pmod {10} \text{ and } 5\times 3 = 15 \text{ is the only integer which has this property} E = 5 T = 3 \color{#E81990}E = 5 \Rightarrow T = 3 Now we have \text{ Now we have } B T H E × 3 3 7 7 3 8 5 \large{\begin{array}{cccccc} & & \color{#E81990}B & \color{#E81990}T & \color{#E81990}H & \color{#E81990}E \\ \times & & & & 3 & 3 \\ \hline & 7 & 7 & 3 & 8 & 5 \\ \end{array}} B T H E = 77385 33 B T H E = 2345 \color{#E81990}{B T H E} = \frac{77385}{33}\\ \color{#E81990}{B T H E} = 2345 However her name is Beth so that is the combination, from the cryptogram... \text{ However her name is Beth so that is the combination, from the cryptogram... } B = 2 \color{#E81990}B = 2 E = 5 \color{#E81990}E = 5 T = 3 \color{#E81990}T = 3 H = 4 \color{#E81990}H = 4 So the combination is 2534 \text{ So the combination is } \boxed{2534}

Very nice explanation

Beth Hewitt - 2 years, 4 months ago

You claim that E = 5 E=5 is the only integer with the property 3 E E m o d 10 3E\equiv E\bmod 10 . But what about E = 0 E=0 ?

Jordan Cahn - 2 years, 4 months ago

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Thank you for the spot, I have now specified that each letter is a natural number.

William Allen - 2 years, 4 months ago

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