10
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This is a follow up question to this one, which was:

Make the number 1998 using the minimum amount of digits 8.

Your allowed operations are +, -, *, /, ^, % (percent).

You need not use only integers 8: 88 and the likes are acceptable.

You must only use 8 as a digit, nothing else.

This puzzle comes from an old friend's school DMs. He said the best that could be done was 10, so I'm turning to the community to see if you can do it better.

But this time you need to find 38 instead of 1998, still with the least amount of digit 8.

Have fun!

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6 Answers 6

17
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Five $8$s

$88- \frac 8 {8\%+8\%}$

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2
  • $\begingroup$ What does the % operator mean? Edit: Ah, it's just "8%", not an operator. $\endgroup$
    – Clockwork
    Dec 21, 2020 at 17:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Clockwork technically, it is a (unary) operator. But you are right, it's just percent. $\endgroup$ Dec 21, 2020 at 17:22
6
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Here is seven 8s

$$\left(\frac{88}{8} + 8\right) \times \left(\frac{8+8}{8} \right) $$

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6
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Here's six 8s:

$$\left(\dfrac{88}{.8}-8\times8\right)-8$$

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6
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Using about one and a half 8s:

enter image description here

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3
  • $\begingroup$ This is clearly not in the spirit of the puzzle, which is to apply mathematical operators from a clearly defined list. Also, this kind of [lateral-thinking] answer (note: not a tag on the question) has been previously mod-deleted more than once (links only leads to answer if you have 10k+ rep) $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Mar 16 at 14:22
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    $\begingroup$ I like it. This is the 3rd time someone independently thinks this is a worthy answer. $\endgroup$
    – Florian F
    Mar 18 at 8:04
  • $\begingroup$ The rules clearly state, "You must only use 8 as a digit, nothing else." Therefore this answer does not qualify. $\endgroup$ Mar 18 at 14:57
4
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Eight 8's:

$\dfrac{88}8+8+\dfrac{88}8+8=38$

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0
2
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Using 5 8s :

$\dfrac{8 + 8 + 8}{.8} + 8$

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