Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /56 of 168

Algebra Difficulty 1.7 Junior Find the answer

A numerical value is assigned to each letter of the alphabet. The value of a word is determined by adding up the numerical values of each of its letters. The value of SET is 2, the value of HAT is 7, the value of TASTE is 3, and the value of MAT is 4. What is the value of the word MATH?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

From the given information, we know that S+E+T=2S+E+T=2, H+A+T=7H+A+T=7, T+A+S+T+E=3T+A+S+T+E=3, and M+A+T=4M+A+T=4. Since T+A+S+T+E=3T+A+S+T+E=3 and S+E+T=2S+E+T=2, then T+A=32=1T+A=3-2=1. Since H+A+T=7H+A+T=7 and T+A=1T+A=1, then H=71=6H=7-1=6. Since M+A+T=4M+A+T=4 and H=7H=7, then M+(A+T)+H=4+6=10M+(A+T)+H=4+6=10. Therefore, the value of the word MATH is 10.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.