Thread: star

In this star diagram you have to use the numbers from 1-12 but cant use 11 or 7. The rows should add up to 34

Are you sure that all lines give 34 ? (I tried some things but 34 seems too big)

Try 24, I think it is possible with each row adding to 24

In fact here is the solution

yeh sorry i always screwed it up

Hi Math Guru,
Is there a method that we can use to figure out the maximum count in this row or just use common addition knowledge to solve this problem? if just simple addition skills what was your way of figuring it out?
Thanks
-L

I just used some logic and strategy and excel.

If you give it a try you immediately see that ll of the big numbers have to be shared by the rows so they must be in the center and all of the little numbers have to be on the outside. Once I realized that it only took a few minutes.

I suppose you could also assign variables to each point on the star and write out equations which all add to 24. Then there is a really cool matrix method that would give you the answers in a snap though I can't remember how to do it at the moment.

I know that paultwang (an old contributor to this forum knows how to do it. you could pm him and see if he answers.

Originally Posted by MathGuru

I suppose you could also assign variables to each point on the star and write out equations which all add to 24. Then there is a really cool matrix method that would give you the answers in a snap though I can't remember how to do it at the moment.

Do you remember now? I am quite interested in learning the uses of matrices at the moment...