gamesblog

Numbers round

Six numbers and a target: reach it with + − × ÷, each number at most once. Any route counts; the targets grow and need more numbers.

  • Calculation
  • Untimed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

Type or tap an expression — the numbers and operators are keys — that reaches the target. Every route that gets there is right; within 10 earns part credit, as on the television round.

Levels raise the target and the number of numbers a route needs. How many of the six are large (25, 50, 75, 100) is a setting.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises searching combinations of numbers under a clock. It is practice at this, not a general claim.

Learn

How to get better at numbers round: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. Look at the target first and ask how far it is from something easy: a large number, a multiple of one, or a product of two of your numbers.
  2. Build that nearby number with as few numbers as you can, usually a large one times a small one.
  3. Close the gap with what is left, keeping one or two small numbers back for the final + or −.
  4. Before you submit, check you have used no number more often than it appears. If you cannot hit it exactly, submit the closest you have: within 10 still earns part credit.

Techniques and tricks

  • Multiply up, then adjust

    Find a multiple of a large number near the target, then add or take away the difference.

    e.g. Target 287 with 50, 6, 10, 3: 50 × 6 = 300, and 300 − 10 − 3 = 287.

  • Factor the target

    If the target divides by one of your small numbers, make the other factor from what is left.

    e.g. Target 84 with 7, 10, 2: 84 = 7 × 12 = 7 × (10 + 2).

  • A big multiplier from small numbers

    Two small numbers added or multiplied can make the multiplier a large number needs.

    e.g. Target 250 with 25, 6, 4: (6 + 4) × 25 = 250.

  • Large against large

    With two or more large numbers, their differences and quotients are useful small numbers: 75 − 50 = 25, 100 ÷ 25 = 4, 100 − 75 = 25.

  • Use what is not needed

    You do not have to use every number. A route of two or three is a full answer; leave the rest alone.

    e.g. Target 111 with 100, 10, 10, 3, 7, 8: 100 + 8 + 3 = 111.

  • Spare 1s

    Multiplying by 1 changes nothing, so a 1 is wasted as a multiplier. Use it to add or take away 1, which is often exactly the last step you need.

As the levels climb

  • The target range climbs without end: 10–60 at level 0, then 30–150, 50–240, 70–330, and on by about 90 at the top each time. Bigger targets mean multiplying first is no longer optional.
  • The route the game builds grows from 2 numbers to 5, the fourth at level 5 and the fifth at level 8. Any route counts, but expect to need more of your numbers.
  • If you play with a clock on, it closes to 85%, 70% and then 60% of the base time, taking turns with the other two. The base time is 30 seconds plus 12 for each number in the built route.
  • At large targets with few large numbers, find any route within 10 first and keep it in mind, then spend what time is left looking for the exact one.

Traps to avoid

  • A number used twice. If 10 appears once, you may use it once. Count each number in your expression against the list before you submit.
  • Brackets left out: 100 + 8 × 3 is 124, not 324. If you mean (100 + 8) × 3, write the brackets.
  • Giving up on an exact answer too late. Part credit falls by a tenth for every one you are away — 3 off earns 70% — so a close answer submitted beats a perfect one unfinished.

How to practise

  • Set “Large numbers (25, 50, 75, 100)” to 1 or 2 to start. With 0, every route is built from the numbers 1 to 10 alone, which is a different puzzle; try it once the others are easy.
  • Leave Time pressure Off while you learn the moves, then try Relaxed, which gives 1.5 times the base time, to get used to settling for close.
  • After each answer, read the game’s “One way” route. If it is shorter than yours, note the move it used: usually a multiply you did not see.

Levels

It is untimed unless you turn the clock on. There is no last level: at least one dial turns without end. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More calculation

All games →