Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for July 14, 2018

Hmmm,… well, a slash through the equal sign to change it to not equal, but that’s probably too easy.

I’m gonna have to go with Nancy’s approach, here.

LOL!

Problem-solving puzzles like this are akin to the old Sufi riddle about the jeweller and the souvenir sellers.

An old man was walking through a market square when a younger man began to kvetch about the fact that Sufi masters often spoke in riddles, denouncing and insulting their wisdom. In response, the old man gave the younger one a diamond ring and asked him to sell it for at least one gold coin.

He had no luck. None of the traders would pay more than a single silver one. Every one of them thought it was a fake.

The old man then took the younger one to the jeweller’s street, and took the ring to all the jewellers to be valued.

Every jeweller valued the stone at one thousand gold coins at least. Every one of them made the same bid.

The old man took the ring back and said to the younger one, “What you know of Sufis is as much as those trinket-sellers know of precious stones. If you wish to value gems, my son, first become a jeweller.”

This is where the “equation” comes in.

Maybe I can explain it like this in case nobody gets it…

I dare anyone who reads this to explain how to eat a tortilla without tearing the edges/rim and drink from a soda bottle without removing the top.

Answer that and you have your answer to the chalkboard brainteaser.

And then you will know why the child’s answer is not the one that the teacher is looking for. (And this instance is not one to kvetch over the suppression of creativity.)

Reminds me of an old brainteaser some of my fellow NancyNerds might not know…. Mathematically, how far can you go turning exactly four fours into each number. To start: 44-44 = 0 44 / 44 = 1 4/4 + 4/4 = 2. Just use normal math symbols.

Come on, that’s a great gag.

Notice the answer has three fives. Three. That’s very Bushmilleresque, is it not? The numerology of the Nancy strip has just begun.

I think the official answer is to add a line to the second plus sign to make it into a four. then you have 5+545+5=555

Back in school ? short summer vacation I would say .

Teasing and other forms of verbal bullying are now forbidden in most schools. Why, then, do they still allow brainteasing? It’s clearly a sign of abuse.

That was usually my response to math problems like that too.

Is it just me, or is Olivia clapping back on the homepage banner?

That’s more than one line.

So Nancy is a southpaw…..like Luann?

⇧ @ michael t

“Maybe I can explain”

no doubt you will, ad nauseum…

Chalk doesn’t work on whiteboards, Nancy…….

I meant a straight line segment, Nancy.

Turn one of the plus signs into a four. 545+5+5=555