• The Square Root of Wonderful

    From David Entwistle@qnivq.ragjvfgyr@ogvagrearg.pbz to rec.puzzles on Tue Aug 12 10:23:16 2025
    From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles

    From Martin Gardner's book 'Sphere Packing, Lewis Carroll, and Reversi'.

    The Square Root of Wonderful was the name of a recent play on Broadway.
    If each letter in WONDERFUL stands for a different digit (zero excluded)
    and if OODDF, using the same code, represents the square root, then what
    is the square root of wonderful?

    Of this problem Gardner says (paraphrased by me, as the original
    referred to two problems): "This problem seems to call for a digital
    computer so that hundreds of combinations of digits can be tested in a reasonable length of time. However, if approached properly and with the
    aid of a clever dodge or two, the problem can be solved with very little pencil and paper work".

    Feel free to say which method you employed.
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  • From James Dow Allen@user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid to rec.puzzles on Tue Aug 12 11:22:47 2025
    From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles


    David Entwistle <qnivq.ragjvfgyr@ogvagrearg.pbz> posted:

    From Martin Gardner's book 'Sphere Packing, Lewis Carroll, and Reversi'.

    The Square Root of Wonderful was the name of a recent play on Broadway.
    If each letter in WONDERFUL stands for a different digit (zero excluded)
    and if OODDF, using the same code, represents the square root, then what
    is the square root of wonderful?
    . . .
    Feel free to say which method you employed.

    I solved it by hand. OO+ x OO+ = WOx+ has only one solution, and there
    are then only two choices for D. The fact that FxF rea F and FxF rea xF reduces us to only four cases, which I checked individually.

    Cheers,
    James
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