Math puzzles.

[rivka]

My father brought three math puzzles down with him this weekend. I got the first one pretty easily, struggled with the second, and had no chance in hell in getting the third. So I pass them all along you to guys.

1. Write the number 4 five times, in combination with any of the basic operators, to produce the sum of 55.

2. Take the numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5. Take any of the four basic operators - but you may only use each one once. Produce the sum of 26. Edited to add: You may not put two numbers next to each other to make a larger number (e.g., 25 + 4 -3). Treat them as separate integers.

3. Write the number 4 three times, employing any of a very broad set of mathematical operators, to produce the sum of 55.

Assume that there will be spoilers in the comments section.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Sorry, with #2 you need to treat the numbers as separate integers, so making 24 is not allowed. Rob is correct for #1.

[ailbhe]

Thanks, that makes a huge difference.

[ailbhe]

I didn't come up with my solution before until Rob pointed out that you might have meant to treat them as digits, not integers...

Then we can't seem to do it! I keep wanting to use brackets!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You mean, just to control order of operations? You can do that.