Old Phone Keys: Biggest Number
Read the puzzle
An old phone keypad shows: 2 = ABC, 3 = DEF, 4 = GHI, 5 = JKL, 6 = MNO, 7 = PQRS, 8 = TUV, 9 = WXYZ; key 1 has no letters. Typing each word gives a four-digit number. Which word types the BIGGEST number: A) WEST, B) YEAR, C) WORD or D) WAVE?
Which of the four words types the BIGGEST number?
All four start with 9, so compare the second digit.
WORD
WORD types 9673, ahead of WEST 9378, YEAR 9327 and WAVE 9283.
How to solve it
Step one: convert each word to digits. WEST is W 9, E 3, S 7, T 8: 9378. YEAR is Y 9, E 3, A 2, R 7: 9327. WORD is W 9, O 6, R 7, D 3: 9673. WAVE is W 9, A 2, V 8, E 3: 9283.
Step two: compare them like any four-digit numbers, from the left. All four start with 9, so the first digit ties. The second digit decides: WEST has 3, YEAR has 3, WORD has 6, WAVE has 2. The 6 is biggest, so WORD wins with 9673, ahead of WEST 9378, YEAR 9327 and WAVE 9283.
A common slip is to pick the word whose letters come latest in the alphabet, such as YEAR because Y is near the end. But Y and W share key 9, so the first letter tells you nothing here. Another slip is to add the digits instead of reading them as a number.
Takeaway: once the leading digits tie, only the first digit that differs matters.
