Wednesday, February 28, 2018

alphametic - Identify unique Verbal Arithmetic Puzzles


I am attempting to create original Verbal Arithmetic puzzles such as the famous one from this question Alphametic (Verbal Arithmetic) general strategy :


SEND+MORE=MONEY


For these problems each letter represents a different one digit number but the equation still holds true. The first letter (M or S in this case) cannot be 0 of course as that would mean they would be omitted.


My main issue with creating new ones is that most of the puzzles I develop have more than 1 solution. For example, there are 3 correct and distinct solutions to:



TWO x SIX = TWELVE



In this case, I can reduce this to one answer by making it a long multiplication problem with marked blank areas for where digits are needed but this sort of ruins the problem. My question, therefore, is what strategies can I use to develop original, unique verbal arithmetic problems that only have one possible solution?



Edit: Can anyone think of any strategies for designing the puzzles, rather than just creating them and testing for the existence of solutions and uniqueness, as suggested by Ross Millikan's answer below?




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