Brain Teasers
Smallest Number
What is the smallest whole number that, when written out, uses all the vowels, A, E, I, O, U and even Y one and one time only each in its spelling?
Hint
It's under 10KAnswer
6020sIx thOUsAnd twEntY
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i liked that one it was very cute. good job!!!
it was kool.
You sure managed to stump me on this one, good job and keep it up.
I did find out I might be wrong. Another number has been put up in the correction queues and this might change shortly.
How about 1025? maybe even a smaller one...
good one, keep them coming, I came up with another answer though so maybe I was wrong
I thought I had you on this but then I saw you said each one was only used once...good one!
JUST TO ANNOY YOU, HOW ABOUT
TWO HUNDRED "and" THIRTY
TWO HUNDRED "and" THIRTY
thOUsAnd EIghtY (1080)
great treser it gets the juices going
but i still didn't solve it . Had fus tryimg good job keep up th good work.......
but i still didn't solve it . Had fus tryimg good job keep up th good work.......
Both of these are smaller than 6020:
(250) twO hUndrEd And fIftY
(1080) thOUsAnd EIghtY
Admittedly, both are colloquial representations vs. proper "canonical representations", but are nonetheless valid.
(250) twO hUndrEd And fIftY
(1080) thOUsAnd EIghtY
Admittedly, both are colloquial representations vs. proper "canonical representations", but are nonetheless valid.
Though others seem to have different answers, 6020 is the answer that I got!
pretty cool
though i agree with 250 ( n i came up with 260 )
though i agree with 250 ( n i came up with 260 )
Excellent!
twO hUndrEd fIftY (no A) or OnE thOUsAnd EIghtY (2 E's & 2 O's) do not fit the criteria
twO hUndrEd fIftY (no A) or OnE thOUsAnd EIghtY (2 E's & 2 O's) do not fit the criteria
I glad I gave up... I was starting from the beginning!
"EIghtY fOUr" got me close but left me with an "A". I then gave up. good one.
how about twEntY sIx thOUsAnd?
or better yet twEntY sIx thOUsAndths? XD Technically it still works and you can't get much smaller than that.
or better yet twEntY sIx thOUsAndths? XD Technically it still works and you can't get much smaller than that.
How about OnE hUndrEd And thIrtY.
This one was fun...
Good teaser!!
Good teaser!!
I see somebody else came up with twEntY-sIx thOUsAndths (26/1000). You should specify WHOLE number.
There's also YArIOUglE, a number I just discovered, which is smaller than one. (One is only the smallest whole number visible to the naked eye. Under a powerful electron microscope many smaller numbers can be observed between one and zero. By the way, yariougle is a super-prime -- it's too small to be divisible even by one and itself.)
I don't buy 260 and 1020. There's no "and" in 260, and there's a "one" in front of 1020.
There's also YArIOUglE, a number I just discovered, which is smaller than one. (One is only the smallest whole number visible to the naked eye. Under a powerful electron microscope many smaller numbers can be observed between one and zero. By the way, yariougle is a super-prime -- it's too small to be divisible even by one and itself.)
I don't buy 260 and 1020. There's no "and" in 260, and there's a "one" in front of 1020.
ONCE AGAIN, DUH... U GUYS ARE EITHER VERY SMART OR ARE THESE REPEATS.... Y IS IT Y'ALL ARE GETTING THEM AND IM NOT???? LOL LOL MAYBE ITS TOO EARLY.... LATER GATORS OR SHOULD I SAY LATER RHODES SCHOLARS......LOL LOL
I really thought hard and long about this one, but couldn't come up with an acceptable answer. Good thought provoking teaser.
sorry but i think it wasnt a very good teaser....
That was great fun!! And I like the discussion that went on in the comments as a result However, I was waay too impatient to look at the answer rather than figure it out!!! Shame on me!!!
Apr 06, 2007
The smallest is 1005.
OnE thOUsAnd fIve.
Unless they are including sometimes y, then it would be 1025.
OnE thOUsAnd fIve.
Unless they are including sometimes y, then it would be 1025.
I thought there could be smaller answers also.
Very clever but can't it be smaller? Oh well still really good!
I think that I've found the smallest while meeting the criteria --TWo HuNDReD aND THiRTy. Fun one! Great job all! Do we have too much time on our hands or what????
When the numbers are written correctly and all the specified parameters of the teaser are met, the smallest number is 6020...six thousand twenty.
i was stumped. this is a great teaser.
Wow that was quite easy!
What about - eighty-four thousand?
6020 is properly written "six thousand twenty." The word "and" in a number denotes the decimal.
negative four uses all the five vowels, not y
Ninety thousandths (0.009) is the smallest number that meets the requiremenst of this teaser.
negative four uses all the five vowels, not y
Ninety thousandths (0.009) is the smallest number that meets the requiremenst of this teaser.
I thought One thousand twenty five, but two "o"'s
Udoboy, I agree with you on the "and" thing. However, .009 is just nine thousandths. Ninety thousandths would be the same as nine hundredths, or .090. I'm thinking twenty-six thousandths (.026) is the lowest number allowed by this teaser.
Well, look on the bright side-even if the answer given isn't the smallest one, it still got everyone involved!
1090--One thousand ninety
Apr 06, 2007
This is incorrect! The smallest number is twO hUndrEd And thIrtY!!!
The best thing about the teaser is that it did get several people to use that device in their heads and to challenge several answers just to say that their answer is a viable one. So, it is a totally fantastic teaser! Keep up the magnificent work, guys! And, I am using that reference as a compliment.
In the spirit of the teaser, 6020 is the correct answer. No matter how hard you try to prove you are smarter than everyone else, you show your ignorance by trying to put the word "and" in the middle of a number, or by using the letter "e" more than once.
C'mon I thought people here were smarter than this.
C'mon I thought people here were smarter than this.
I have to agree with subtox. Very thought provoking teaser.
Goes to show how many people real all the rules before jumping to conclusions. I came up with some number in the thousands, then I read the "once and only once" clause. And to those using decimals, who are you trying to fool...that's "allowed" by the wording, but clearly not the spirit of the teaser.
Barf, I don't think .026 would be very happy to hear that you don't consider it a real number. The teaser doesn't specify "whole number" or "integer", so I figured decimals were fair game. I wasn't trying to be a big fat nerd and challenge the teaser anyway; I was only responding to other comments.
good catch subtox... I tried using "negative" but couldn't come up with a number that didn't use an e, a or i to go with it... heh heh
Minus forty ate?
ohhh i didnt know i could use consanants! haha im suchh a blonde... nice one
My 1st try, I typed the first # that came into my head, not the smallest. I had a lot of fun with that however.
I came up with the right answer after a few moments thought. I think that all the other numbers that were suggested show just how good this puzzle is, because it really made people think. But they either had 2 of a vowel , or they used the A from And, and I don't think thats fair. But as usual, Fish did a great job. Keep up the good work.
very fun!! i love it!
What about 1030??? without the and in it??? AND isn't a number.
real cool, loved it
good one! really cool!
i gave up to fast but it still rocked!
m e s s a g e m e
i gave up to fast but it still rocked!
m e s s a g e m e
hey, gnosis if yariougie is a number how come google came up with ZERO search results?
Apr 06, 2007
twEnty sIx thOUsAndths
(26/1000)
(26/1000)
Couln'tcome up with even a guess! But loved the teaser and the comments it provoked. Another winner, Fishmed
Darn! I stopped counting at 6019 when I gave up! Good one Fish... Lots of fun!
PS: For what it's worth, you could tighten up the question a little bit very easily with "smallest whole number" and "don't use 'and' in your answer"...
Though I did enjoy some of the other creative answers. Thanks for submitting.
PS: For what it's worth, you could tighten up the question a little bit very easily with "smallest whole number" and "don't use 'and' in your answer"...
Though I did enjoy some of the other creative answers. Thanks for submitting.
This was a fun one! It could also be cattagoried in math! Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
to rbasch just to let you know you dont say and unless there is a dicimal.
I think this teaser is perfect as it is! Great job!
Quite a fun puzzle, but I got:
twO hUndrEd And thIrtY
This is how you would wright out 230, say on a cheque
twO hUndrEd And thIrtY
This is how you would wright out 230, say on a cheque
Great job Fish, as usual. Loved all the comments. Sorry, I too gave up too soon, but it appears not too many did.
No, sorry, the correct way to write out $230 on a check is Two hundred thirty and no/100 dollars. I've been a teacher for many years, and that is the way we teach it in 3rd grade. The "and is for a decimal point or a mixed fraction (like 5 1/2 is pronounced "five and one-half").
This was a good teaser--made a lot of people think!
This was a good teaser--made a lot of people think!
Jcann, the correct way to write €230 in Ireland is "Two hundred and thirty euro only"; differences in culture make slightly different answers.
Jcann is 100% correct in the good old U.S.A. I also thank Musikman and barf for THEIR clarity. For those of you who keep insisting your answers with two of the same vowel are valid, shame on you! The only improvement in the directions I would suggest is including 'whole number' in them, to eliminate the great answer of .026. Otherwise, super teaser, Fishmed, WTG!
Great teaser, I was thinking fOUrtY And fIvE (close to the German phrasing of ones and tens, as in, "five and fourty") So, really, you could use other languages! of course, that won't likely count, but its worth a try!
I worked this one for a while, then gave up. The previous comments regarding the use of "and" are correct. Since Strunk and White didn't address money, I looked in "The Blue Book of Grammar." It may be picky of me, but "and" is only used in the place of a decimal. I know we are not to suggest grammar corrections, but if they delete me, so be it. Thank you for the brain work anyway!
Hehehehehe, I loved this teaser, and the debate about numbers!! I knew that "and" wouldn't count, and so I jumped immediately to the thousands ... then looked for a word that would have E, I, and Y in it. Too bad I didn't read the hint (darn email doesn't remind me there's a hint! and I keep forgetting to hide half the screen when I click the link!) or else I would've known that my answer of EIghtY thOUsAnd was too high. Drat!
theyre looking for the smallest, so how about five thousand twenty instead of six?
haha, theres an E there, didnt thought of that..huhuh
surely the correct answer is five thousand?
Ah, but 5,000 does not have a Y...
Very interesting but slightly difficult. Still fun and clever though!
I got OnE thoUsAnd and twentY sIx
exokid, yours does not use each letter only one time...
Aug 28, 2009
You can do it with the number;
OnE hUndred And fortY fIve
and thats much smaller
OnE hUndred And fortY fIve
and thats much smaller
lozziejane, that only works if you include the word 'and' in the figuring. This was not the case for the correct answer.
This is a very poorly and vaguely written teaser. Ultimately there is no right answer because the question does not exclude fractions or decimals, which can be arbitrarily small.
fIftY OnE ThoUsAnd
this is seriously a terrible teaser. so many people came up with answers shorter than the one provided.
this is seriously a terrible teaser. so many people came up with answers shorter than the one provided.
Fishmed, great teaser!!
It certainly DID get a lot of people thinking!
It certainly DID get a lot of people thinking!
OnE thoUsAnd-fIve
I was originally thinking one thousand twenty five, but I forgot the rule that you could only use each vowel one time. That automatically excludes anything before five thousand, and then because 'five' contains I and E, that will eliminate lots of other possibilities, so it seems the answer is clearly six thousand twenty. Nice one
It's amazing that so many have commented on the "and" --including me a few years back, but let the two O's in One thOusand slip by without comment until recently. I agree that the anser given is, in fact, the correct one. However, I guess if I were asking someone else I would include "whole number" just to limit the possibilties.
Aug 02, 2010
6020
sIx thOUsAnd twEntY
Is the correct answer. I said either -21 or 1025 -- both violate the rule of using the vowel only once. And, you don't say x "and" whatever else when stated proper.
6020 is it. GooD TeaseR !!!
sIx thOUsAnd twEntY
Is the correct answer. I said either -21 or 1025 -- both violate the rule of using the vowel only once. And, you don't say x "and" whatever else when stated proper.
6020 is it. GooD TeaseR !!!
my apologies. i completely misread the teaser. i thought they were looking for the "smallest number when written out". i was also reading the teaser on a news feed and didn't get the see the last sentence of the teaser. i'd delete the comment above if i could.
I came up with thOUsAnd nInEtY. as the lowest that is using each vowelonly once and written in proper form.
Bull, what you have is really One thOUsAnd nInEtY, which uses O twice, which breaks the rule.
People of America, you need to realise that much of the rest of the English-speaking world uses AND in numbers over 100 so, for them, twO hUndrEd And thIrtY is a perfectly valid answer.
Aside: we say POINT to denote the decimal, e.g. 230.5 is 'two hundred and thirty point five'.
Aside: we say POINT to denote the decimal, e.g. 230.5 is 'two hundred and thirty point five'.
Well, all the answers with "and" are wrong, (I mean for the teaser) and several answers... have the same letters twice... Anyways, Good teaser. (Does anyone look at the rules???)
I still think .026 is the smallest number allowed: twEntY sIx thOUsAndths -- A,E,I,O,U, and Y, once each.
The question doesn't ask for an 'integer' or 'whole number', it just asks for a 'number', which .026 definitely is.
There are other valid ways to say it (point zero/zed/oh two six, etc.), but 'twenty six thousandths' is still one of them. It's the terminology used for fractions.
But feel free to chime in if you know of a smaller number or a compelling reason why .026 shouldn't be allowed.
The question doesn't ask for an 'integer' or 'whole number', it just asks for a 'number', which .026 definitely is.
There are other valid ways to say it (point zero/zed/oh two six, etc.), but 'twenty six thousandths' is still one of them. It's the terminology used for fractions.
But feel free to chime in if you know of a smaller number or a compelling reason why .026 shouldn't be allowed.
Wow, with all the flaws in this teaser has had over the years, apparently corrected in stages over a span of many years,
as well as the fact that with regional differences in the way numbers are expressed, there are still several possible "correct" answers, I am surprised it was made TOTD even once, never mind this being its 4th appearance as such.
as well as the fact that with regional differences in the way numbers are expressed, there are still several possible "correct" answers, I am surprised it was made TOTD even once, never mind this being its 4th appearance as such.
HABS said it all. Good job HABS.
OnE thoUsAnd eIghtY is the correct answer.
oops. OnE thoUsAnd thIrtY as detailed above.
Oops again. OnE thoUsAnd twentYfIve
1005
thOUsAnd and fIvE
thOUsAnd and fIvE
As it is currently written with whole numbers and using the correct naming of numbers (I.e. no AND's and 1000 written as One Thousand) 6020 is the correct answer. Unfortunately, I only got 80,000 before I gave up.
6020. Took a minute or two but I nailed it
And to everyone giving alternate answers... Yes it is interesting to come up with alternate regional/improper answers...but the one true answer, here in the United States, is 6020.
Well, for those that liked it, I am glad you did. For those that thought the answer was in the one thousand range, it would not work in that there are two letter 'o' in it, thus making it the wrong answer. Again, I am happy that those who liked it, liked it.
I am glad I did not get into this controversy. The whole teaser seems to be a big argument. this was not one I liked at all.
five thousand
Is ANYONE going to mention that the editors REALLY, REALLY screwed up on this one.
And the author (Fishmed) is THE ranking editor !!!!
Jaye (of the BunnyBunch)
And the author (Fishmed) is THE ranking editor !!!!
Jaye (of the BunnyBunch)
I chose EIghtY thOUsAnd, which works, but is not the smallest.
Catmom: five thousand does not work as there is no "Y".
LittleGreenMan: How is this really really screwed up? Send me a PM to let me know. Or submit a correction.
To those who liked it, thx.
Tim.
LittleGreenMan: How is this really really screwed up? Send me a PM to let me know. Or submit a correction.
To those who liked it, thx.
Tim.
WOW !!!! (to fishmed)
Answered with alacrity, no less.
Not true of my PM to you of July 4 of this year. Still no reply from you.
AND ... there have been two others - replies to prior PMs - where you said you would "get back to me" (or my brother BadBunnee02) ... and no answer yet.
So, we'll just stay here a while, if that's OK with you.
First, you corrected this teaser yourself - post posting - and look at your subsequent post of Sept 24, 2005, blueimage of Aug 02, 2010, subtox of Aug 03, 2010, and HABS2933 of Aug 02, 2013. There are several other legitimate questions also posted.
The editors should have intercepted all these notions (or, at least, the major ones) prior to approval..
Jaye (of the BunnyBunch)
Answered with alacrity, no less.
Not true of my PM to you of July 4 of this year. Still no reply from you.
AND ... there have been two others - replies to prior PMs - where you said you would "get back to me" (or my brother BadBunnee02) ... and no answer yet.
So, we'll just stay here a while, if that's OK with you.
First, you corrected this teaser yourself - post posting - and look at your subsequent post of Sept 24, 2005, blueimage of Aug 02, 2010, subtox of Aug 03, 2010, and HABS2933 of Aug 02, 2013. There are several other legitimate questions also posted.
The editors should have intercepted all these notions (or, at least, the major ones) prior to approval..
Jaye (of the BunnyBunch)
Well, I am sorry they were missed either before or now. Otherwise, somebody can submit other corrections. As to the others, I will go back through my PMs and see what I missed. Real life at my house can be somewhat overly hectic and I can miss things.
130 ( OnEhUndredAndthIrtY ), exactly as it said in English ?
Sorry, meant: 230 ?
Fun and entertaining teaser; very clever. I did not get it but I agree with the correct answer given of 6020 being the smallest whole number that feature A, E, I, O, U and Y once when spelled out. Numbers spelled out do not feature an "and".
Terrific puzzle. Definitely not obvious, but deducible. I wish the "and" rule was explicit. Otherwise, 230 is a reasonable response due to common usage.
Glad you liked it.
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