MATH STINGER #34
                                                                          by Dr. Joel C. Fowler
                                                                    Assistant Professor of Mathematics

                                    For a new puzzle suppose that you have five 5's and the operations of
                                    addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and grouping (parentheses).
                                    How many of the integers from 1 to 15 can you make using only these
                                    operations and all of the fives? For example, the integer 2 can be
                                    expressed as ((5+5)/5)+(5-5) (note that all five 5's must be used in your
                                    expression). You should be able to make all integers from 1 to 15 except
                                    one. As a final puzzle, once you've found which is the missing number,
                                    express it using five 5's with the additional operation of squaring allowed.

                                   

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