How to play Mathler

What is a Mathler?

Mathler is an arithmetic puzzle in which you are shown a target number and must find the hidden six-character calculation that equals it in six guesses, where every guess must itself equal the target and each digit and operator is coloured green, yellow or grey.

Also known as: reverse Nerdle, target number Wordle.

How do you solve a Mathler?

1. 01

   Factor the target first

   Before typing anything, write down the ways the target can be reached in six characters. A target of 42 might be 6*7, 50-8, 84/2, 3*14 or 21+21; each has to be padded with an operator to fill six tiles. The factorisation is the list of candidate shapes, and the game is choosing between them.

2. 02

   Open with as many distinct characters as possible

   Six tiles can hold four or five digits plus one or two operators. Choose an opening calculation that equals the target and uses different digits and at least one operator, so that the colours test the widest range. Two operators in one guess test both at once.

3. 03

   Let the operators tell you the structure

   A green or yellow times sign means a product is involved; a grey minus sign removes every subtraction. Because every candidate already equals the target, the operators are what separate them, so identify which operators are in the answer before you worry about which digits.

4. 04

   Reason from a placed digit

   A green digit in the first tile fixes the first number's leading digit, and the target then limits what can follow. If the target is 24 and the first tile is a green 8, the remaining five characters must take 8 to 24, such as 8*12/4, which is a short list.

5. 05

   Check commutation before spending a row

   If your candidate uses exactly the answer's characters and equals the target, it wins even if written in a different order. So once you know all six characters, any arrangement that evaluates correctly is the winning guess, and you need not find the setter's ordering.

Common Mathler mistakes

• Guessing an expression that does not equal the target. It is refused and costs no row, but it costs time, and in the timed mode time is the score.
• Forgetting order of operations. 2+3*4 is 14, not 20, so a candidate must be evaluated with multiplication and division first before it is typed.
• Ignoring exact division. A slash is only legal when it divides evenly, so 7/2 is not a smaller number but an invalid guess.

Where does Mathler come from?

Mathler was created by Daniel Tait and launched in 2022, shortly after Nerdle had shown that the daily-puzzle format of Josh Wardle's Wordle could hold an equation. Its inversion was to show the value up front and hide the calculation, so that the puzzle is about arrangement rather than about finding a true sum.

This site's Mathler is its own implementation of that puzzle type. Six tiles hold the expression, the target is shown above the board, and a guess is only accepted if it evaluates to the target under ordinary order of operations with exact division. A rearrangement that uses the same characters and still equals the target counts as finding the answer, as it does in the original.