I need to us Denis' looper programming skills

[Steven G]

12-7*6+19-14=11

please tell me the method to put the parentheses at the right places

I don't see this one and instead of spending an hour on this I know some of you will see this in seconds.

Thanks!

 

[Denis]

Hmmm....you sure of the "11"? 111 works:
(12 - 7)*(6 + 19) - 14 = 111

 

[Steven G]

Hmmm....you sure of the "11"? 111 works:
(12 - 7)*(6 + 19) - 14 = 111

Yeah, I too got the 111 result and then I doubled checked to see if I wrote it done wrong. Possibly the OP gave it wrong. I was told it would need nested parenthesis but i have no way to verify that.

I hope it is a valid problem.

Thanks for you time.

 

[Harry_the_cat]

Not that this is correct but is something like 12 - 7*(6+1)(9-1)4 allowable? In other words do the two digit numbers have to remain as 2 digit numbers or can they be split by a left or right parenthesis?

 

[Steven G]

I was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately I do not know the answer. I saw this problem on another site. The hints were to randomly try (as we know) and that this is hard and will require nested brackets. I have no idea if this last comment is correct or not.

 

[Denis]

From another site:

$\displaystyle 12-(7*(6+(19-14))),$
$\displaystyle 12-(7*((6+19)-14)),$
$\displaystyle 12-((7*6)+(19-14)),$
$\displaystyle 12-((7*(6+19))-14),$
$\displaystyle 12-(((7*6)+19)-14),$
$\displaystyle (12-7)*(6+(19-14)),$
$\displaystyle (12-7)*((6+19)-14),$
$\displaystyle (12-(7*6))+(19-14),$
$\displaystyle ((12-7)*6)+(19-14),$
$\displaystyle (12-(7*(6+19)))-14,$
$\displaystyle (12-((7*6)+19))-14,$
$\displaystyle ((12-7)*(6+19))-14,$
$\displaystyle ((12-(7*6))+19)-14,$
$\displaystyle (((12-7)*6)+19)-14$

Values from above:

$\displaystyle \{-65,-65,-35,-149,-35,55,55,-25,35,-177,-63,111,-25,35\}$