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Imagine you’re at university, doing a maths quiz, with a calculator provided. The problem you’re tasked with reads, “Your grandmother was born in 1942, how old was she in 1994?” You think for a moment and realise it’s a subtraction problem. Into your calculator, you type “1994 – 1942”, and then triumphantly, you record the…

Imagine your calculator is broken. Although it will still display numbers, only the 4 key, + key, = key and clear key work. Starting at 0, can you get the calculator to display 1000? What’s the fastest way, with the fewest button presses?

Let’s look at a few interesting patterns you can get by dividing. Some of these patterns need a lot of digits, so get the best calculator you can find.

Are you a magician? Or a mathematician! Guess someone’s number with this cool trick.