well abt the cryptarithmetic problem - if its a single question u can conveniently leave the question - on the other hand if u hv been taking part in RMO/IMOs and remember the answer - then its ur day - but then if its a caselet with 5-10 diff questins based on it and its variants - u wud be well advised to solve such questions - also the choices will help u a lot while solving such qs - also 55 helps a lot here to solve it quickly

and guys - heres a good index of puzzles -

http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/puzzles/puzzindx.htm

Are you sure these kinds of probleme dont come in CAT?? How do you know?

How much time did u take s_b? Is there any rule or a formula where we could do it within a minute?

this wont be asked in CAT 2003 anyway...so take ur own time to solve the problems

How much time did u take s_b? Is there any rule or a formula where we could do it within a minute?

hirsat

your answer is correct
see if the below given solution helps the thinking process

As SOTTISES contains eight letters and HOROSCOPE nine, we have S is smaller than 2. As S is not zero, we get S=1. As SOTTISES ends with 1, HOROSCOPE ends with 5. So E = 5 and we have the last three digits of SOTTISES; multiplying them by 55, we obtain the last three digits of HOROSCOPE, which are P=0 and O=3. Having now the first two digits of SOTTISES, we find easily H=7. The available digits are 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9. If T=6, we find (with SOTT x 55) O=5, contradicting O=3. We then have T=2 or 4. But, with the samecalculation, T=2 implies R=7, and H is already 7. So T=4. As SOTT x 55=1344 x 55 = 73920, R=9. The remaining digits are easily found, and the complete solution is thus: P=0, S=1, I=2, O=3, T=4, E=5, H=7, C=8 and R=9, such that 13442515 x 55 = 739318305.

Hey s_b,

This is the answer,

S=1
I=2
O=3
T=4
E=5
H=7
C=8
R=9
P=0

But the sad part is I solved it in the conventional way...took almost half an hour.

Cya
hirsat