Make the equation true by only drawing a single straight line

Question

Fred has a puzzle. The instruction sheet, which is separate from the equation,simply says: "Make this equation true. You may ONLY draw ONE, PERFECTLY straight line". The equation is all alone on a blank piece of paper and reads:

5+5+5=550

There are 4 acceptable answers. You must get all 4 for a correct answer.

5 and 6th answer found 5-5+5 not equal 550 – Theodosius Von Richthofen Jul 24 '21 at 05:40 — Theodosius Von Richthofen, Jul 24 '21 at 05:40

score 38 · Accepted Answer · edited May 06 '18 at 03:35

38

Cross out the equals sign
Turn the first $+$ into a 4 giving $545+5=550$
Turn the second $+$ into a 4 giving $5+545=550$
Turn the equals sign into less than or equal to

edited May 06 '18 at 03:35

SteamCode

3,181
3
15
32

answered Nov 12 '14 at 21:24

Michal

718
4
11

BONUS there is a fourth acceptable answer. good on you! – Theodosius Von Richthofen Nov 12 '14 at 21:28
Joe K added the fourth answer but Michal answered all 3 first (when i said i needed 3 answers) – Theodosius Von Richthofen Nov 12 '14 at 21:33

score 15 · Answer 2 · edited May 06 '18 at 04:38

15

I think the fourth answer, which hasn't been posted yet is:

$5+5+5≤550$

That makes all of them:

$5+5+5≤550$
$545+5=550$
$5+545=550$
$5+5+5≠550$

edited May 06 '18 at 04:38

SteamCode

3,181
3
15
32

answered Nov 12 '14 at 21:31

Joe K

1,098
7
7

I was supposed to give you a bounty, but it expired as I was not active due to personal reasons. I'll therefore upvote ten of your answers to give you 100 reputation ;) – Mr Pie Jan 11 '19 at 07:06

score 10 · Answer 3 · 2014-11-12T21:37:03.537

10

5+5+5≠550

negating the equality.

Edit:
You could negate the entire statement, depending on how you interpret the equation...
_________
5+5+5=550 could evaluate to "true" in some contexts... ^^

edited Nov 12 '14 at 21:37

answered Nov 12 '14 at 21:24

This almost feels like cheating ;-) – John Dvorak Nov 12 '14 at 21:25
@TheodosiusVonRichthofen umm... You didn't say that – John Dvorak Nov 12 '14 at 21:28
1

@TheodosiusVonRichthofen you said there were 3 acceptable answers, and I provided one. Alas, someone already beat me to the other two :p. – Nov 12 '14 at 21:30

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 12 '14 at 21:24

4

I'd put a line

on one of the plus signs, straight up.
The equation would read 545 + 5 = 550

answered Nov 12 '14 at 21:24

generalcrispy

6,031
2
36
45

Make the equation true by only drawing a single straight line

4 Answers4

Linked

Related