Solution: Mathematics Meta
Answer: RAM ALPHA WOLF
Written by Jonah Ostroff
In the math department, every course is associated with a course number, some of which are rather unusual. The answers and course numbers are:
| Course # | Answer |
|---|---|
| 7 | SAD FACE |
| 15 | SESAME CHICKEN |
| 122 | MADAME BLANCHE |
| 200 | MASS CLAIM |
| 39.1666... | ADA KING |
| 0.9 | DEAD LABEL |
| -34012208 | SEA LANE |
Each answer consists of two words. The first word only uses letters from {E, M, D, A, S}, which are the five letters from PEMDAS that correspond to binary operations. The second word only uses letters from {A, B, C, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N}, and is one letter longer than the first. Therefore, we can interleave the two words to make an expression with n variables and n-1 operations. For example, SAD FACE can be read as F-A+C/E, and SESAME CHICKEN can be read as C-H^I-C+K*E^N.
We can then set each of these expressions equal to the associated course number to get a system of equations:
| F-A+C/E = 7 |
| C-H^I-C+K*E^N = 15 |
| B*L+A/N+C*H^E = 122 |
| C*L+A-I-M = 200 |
| K+I/N+G = 39.1666... |
| L/A^B+E/L = 0.9 |
| L-A^N+E = -34012208 |
This is a system with seven equations and twelve variables, so there must be an additional constraint. With the additional assumption that each variable is between 1 and 26, there’s a unique solution:
| Variable | Value | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| A | 18 | R |
| B | 1 | A |
| C | 13 | M |
| D | N/A | |
| E | 1 | A |
| F | 12 | L |
| G | 16 | P |
| H | 8 | H |
| I | 1 | A |
| J | N/A | |
| K | 23 | W |
| L | 15 | O |
| M | 12 | L |
| N | 6 | F |
Reading down, the answer is RAM ALPHA WOLF.
Author’s Notes
This meta was inspired by those viral “6 รท 2(1+2)” memes. The original idea was to just have answers using only letters from PEMDAS (with no repeats), giving a new order of operations, and applying them to expressions in the meta shell. There aren’t a lot of words like that, however, so eventually I landed on the two-word concept.
The blanks at D and J were added to allow for slightly better letters, but I was sad to lose the answer DAD JOKE. I had also hoped to include a few answers with pairs of Ps, like PAMPAS GRASS, but unfortunately none of them fit in the alphabetical range for the answer.