2016 breaks down into 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 7, which is the same as 2<span>5 </span>x 3<span>2 </span>x 7
When I saw this I thought that I would leave 7 as it is, and then try to make 2<span>5 </span>and 3<span>2 </span>(32 and 9) out of (10 9 8) and (6 5 4 3 2 1).
If this worked I’d have (10 9 8) x 7 x (6 5 4 3 2 1) = 2016
I quickly noticed that 10 – 9 + 8 = 9. And then playing around that
(6x5) - 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 32.
So I had a solution: (10 – 9 + 8) x 7 x ((6x5) – 4 + 3 + 2 + 1) = 2016
It is a pretty dull solution though. The most elegant has to be this one, tweeted earlier by James Annan (and subsequently by others):
<span>(10 x 9 x 8 x 7 x 6)/(5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1) = 2016</span>
