# Make the equation true by only drawing a single straight line

Fred has a puzzle. The instruction sheet, which is separate from the equation,simply says: "Make this equation true. You may ONLY draw ONE, PERFECTLY straight line". The equation is all alone on a blank piece of paper and reads:

5+5+5=550


There are 4 acceptable answers. You must get all 4 for a correct answer.

1. Cross out the equals sign

2. Turn the first $+$ into a 4 giving $545+5=550$

3. Turn the second $+$ into a 4 giving $5+545=550$

• BONUS there is a fourth acceptable answer. good on you! – Theodosius Von Richthofen Nov 12 '14 at 21:28
• Joe K added the fourth answer but Michal answered all 3 first (when i said i needed 3 answers) – Theodosius Von Richthofen Nov 12 '14 at 21:33

I think the fourth answer, which hasn't been posted yet is:

$5+5+5≤550$

That makes all of them:

$5+5+5≤550$
$545+5=550$
$5+545=550$
$5+5+5≠550$

• I was supposed to give you a bounty, but it expired as I was not active due to personal reasons. I'll therefore upvote ten of your answers to give you 100 reputation ;) – Mr Pie Jan 11 at 7:06

5+5+5≠550

negating the equality.

Edit:
You could negate the entire statement, depending on how you interpret the equation...
_________
5+5+5=550    could evaluate to "true" in some contexts... ^^

• This almost feels like cheating ;-) – John Dvorak Nov 12 '14 at 21:25
• @TheodosiusVonRichthofen umm... You didn't say that – John Dvorak Nov 12 '14 at 21:28
• @TheodosiusVonRichthofen you said there were 3 acceptable answers, and I provided one. Alas, someone already beat me to the other two :p. – Chris Sprague Nov 12 '14 at 21:30

I'd put a line

on one of the plus signs, straight up.
The equation would read 545 + 5 = 550

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