# No Computer Allowed (Beware the Eater)

The answer is a relevant single word. No computer or digital calculator allowed. Beware the eater of red herring, if you happen to spot it.

6 - 5 + 4 + 7 = ?
7 + 8 + 8 - (7-5) - (7-1) = ?
6 - 5 + 7 + 4 = ?
6 - 2 + 0 - 1 = ?
7 + 0 - 7 + 1 = ?
5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = ?

Trying to avoid herrings and computers I'm going with

Abacus

The logic behind it

Write the numbers like on a digital calculator or clock and 'erase' the lines, that were subtracted.

6 gives us the red lines, the yellow ones for 5 get erased. 4 adds the green ones and 7 the last line on the top. Looks like an 8 without the bottom or like an A.
Doing so for all lines spells Abacus.

• Great work dodging the cat!
– Amoz
Apr 26, 2022 at 14:41
• It was hard, I love cats! (Thanks for editing, just noticed my spoilers were as lousy as my paint skills...) Apr 26, 2022 at 14:44

LOL

How to find

The answers yield 12, 15, 12, 3, 1, 20. When converted to alphabet is gives us LOLCAT Cats eat herrings. Since red herrings are things that are not supposed to help. We can assume the word cat dos not belong.

Note I used the comment from @someoneinexistence.

• Alas, you've been eaten by the eater of red herring. Try a completely different approach.
– Amoz
Apr 26, 2022 at 14:24

LOLCAT

How to find

Results of equations are 12, 15, 12, 3, 1, 20, which are the alphabetical order of each letter of the solution. No computer used!

• Cats eat fish, so this may be the red herring. I don't know though, sounds good to me.
– parz
Apr 26, 2022 at 13:43
• Alas, you've been eaten by the eater of red herring. Try a completely different approach.
– Amoz
Apr 26, 2022 at 14:24
• I must admit I was a bit puzzled by the "red herring" (meaning wrong problem/wrong solution) ;) Well done for making a problem with 2 solutions! Apr 26, 2022 at 14:56