Given ooze, noon, tone, snooze, onset, stone, tones, fees, toffee, noses, sneeze, sense, stetson, festoons, nonsense
are all legal words, and are worth 10, 20, 23, 32, 36, 36, 36, 38, 40, 44, 46, 51, 54, 59, 70
respectively, what English word with three letters is worth only 2
? What is tenseness
worth?
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$\begingroup$ Can words have negative values? $\endgroup$– AreebJul 21, 2016 at 17:24
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1$\begingroup$ @Areeb No - only positive integer values. $\endgroup$– martinJul 21, 2016 at 17:26
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$\begingroup$ Is there any significance to the fact that "snooze" and its corresponding 32 are listed twice? $\endgroup$– Gareth McCaughan ♦Jul 21, 2016 at 17:33
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$\begingroup$ Uh, snooze is in there twice? $\endgroup$– KlyzxJul 21, 2016 at 17:33
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$\begingroup$ no,stone listed thrice.... $\endgroup$– NumberknotJul 21, 2016 at 17:34
2 Answers
The word worth 2 is
Zoo
Because
$e = 8$
$f = 9$
$n = 9$
$o = 1$
$s = 13$
$t = 5$
$z = 0$
And all values are added together.
Tenseness is then worth:
$5 + 8 + 9 + 13 + 8 + 9 + 8 + 13 + 13 = 86$
Found by the following:
$tone = 23$, $stone = 36 \rightarrow s = 13$
$ooze = 10$, $snooze = 32$, $snooze - ooze = sn = 22 \rightarrow n = 9$
$noon = 20 \rightarrow oo = 2 \rightarrow o = 1$
$noses = 44 \rightarrow e = 44 - 9 - 1 - 13 - 13 \rightarrow e = 8$
$ooze = 10 \rightarrow z = 10 - 1 - 1 - 8 \rightarrow z = 0$ $fees = 38 \rightarrow f = 38 - 8 -8 -13 \rightarrow f = 9$
$tone = 23 \rightarrow t = 23 - 1 - 9 - 8 \rightarrow t = 5$
As explained by the OP:
zero $\rightarrow$ = 0
two $+$ three $\rightarrow 2 + 3 = 5$
four $+$ five $\rightarrow 4 + 5 = 9$
six $+$ seven $\rightarrow 6 + 7 = 13$
eight $\rightarrow$ = 8
nine $\rightarrow$ = 9
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$\begingroup$ Are you sure S = 13? I got S = 3. Do you mind showing your work? $\endgroup$– AreebJul 21, 2016 at 17:38
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2$\begingroup$ @AggieKidd Too easy! Yes, values: z: zero (0), o: one (1), t: two + three (5), f: four + five (9), s: six + seven (13), e: eight (8), n: nine (9) $\endgroup$– martinJul 21, 2016 at 17:40
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