Operand Puzzle

OPERAND PUZZLE - Math Game v2.5

DETAILED GAME DESCRIPTION

Operand Swapping && Operand Sliding

In these two types of the puzzle, the operands can be either number marked pieces of a selected image or only number marked pieces inside row-column equations. In case of the number marked image pieces, the puzzle can also be solved visually, that is simply by arranging shuffled pieces of the selected image into the complete image. This is actually an easy entry phase before the next two phases where the puzzle contains only number marked pieces as operands within the row-column equations. Let’s see how this works in the simplest form, that is in 2x2 piece puzzle:

Operand Swapping

2 + 3 = 6
+ + +
4 + 1 = 4
|| ||
5 5 7

To solve this puzzle, we need to swap its operand-pieces so that all the raw-column equation results and one diagonal equation result from the top-left to the bottom-right become true. What helps in the process of finding the solution is the fact that we only have 4 numbers which can be answers (in case of the 2x2 puzzle). Also, what helps is the fact that there are at least some results which can be produced with only one or few operand pairs. In this case, all the results, except 5, can be produced with only one operand pair. Therefore, swapping the operand pair of 3 and 4 will solve all the row-column equations (2+4=6,3+1=4,2+3=5,4+1=5). However, the diagonal result will still remain incorrect (2 + 1 is not 7). Therefore, in the next move we need to swap 2 with 4 in the first row and 3 with 1 in the second row, which diagonally, from the top-left operand (4) to the bottom-right operand (3), produces the correct result of 7, while keeping the other results of the puzzle also correct.

Operand Sliding

To solve the Operand sliding type of the puzzle, procedure is the same as in the example above except that the operands cannot be simply swapped, rather they must be gradually slid from one empty adjacent place to the another until each one gets placed in the right place. Let’s say that, in the example above, the bottom-right operand place (1) is empty. To solve the puzzle, we need to slide the operand 3 down, the operand 2 right and the operand 4 up. Also, since this type of the puzzle belongs to the hard difficulty level, such a simple puzzle with 4 pieces is not available.

Operand Discovering

The Operand discovering type of the puzzle differs from the other two by its fixed operand-pieces which are already positioned in their proper places and hidden under a question mark. What is movable here are the answer-numerals located in the row above the puzzle. Using the example above with 2x2 pieces, this type of the puzzle can be demonstrated in the following way:

1 2 3 4
----------------
? + ? = 6
+ + +
? + ? = 4
|| ||
5 5 7

Now, the solution to the puzzle should be to grab the appropriate answer-numeral from the row above and drag-drop it on the relevant puzzle piece to discover the operand hidden under the question mark. Therefore, to solve the above puzzle we need to drag numeral 4 and drop it on the left-top operand, numeral 2 on the right-top, numeral 1 on the left-bottom and numeral 3 on the right bottom operand.

Left Column Subtraction Result

In order to facilitate finding the solution for more complex puzzles, that is the puzzles with 4x4 and 5x5 pieces, there is another result column on its left side which shows the result of subtracting a row of operands composed of three columns, counting from right to left. The operands in these three columns along with their results are marked with an underline in a different color.