What is a Nerdle?
Nerdle is an arithmetic puzzle in which you find a hidden eight-character equation such as 43-8*5=3 in six guesses, where every guess must be a true equation and each digit and symbol is coloured green, yellow or grey to show whether it is in the right place, elsewhere in the equation, or absent.
Also known as: maths Wordle, equation guessing game.
How do you solve a Nerdle?
- 01
Open with an equation that spreads the digits
A good first guess uses as many different digits as possible plus at least one operator and the equals sign, for instance a subtraction with a product on the left. You are testing symbols as well as numbers: whether the answer contains a plus, minus, times or divide is as valuable as any digit.
- 02
Locate the equals sign first
The position of the equals sign fixes the shape of the whole answer. In eight characters it usually sits at position six or seven, leaving a one- or two-digit result. Once it is green you know how long the right-hand side is, which tells you roughly how big the left-hand side must come to.
- 03
Let the result constrain the operators
A two-digit result with a times sign on the left points towards a small product plus or minus something; a one-digit result with a divide often means a product divided down. Use the known digits of the result to work backwards to the operations that could reach it rather than trying operators at random.
- 04
Respect order of operations
Multiplication and division bind tighter than addition and subtraction, so 43-8*5 is 43-40, not 35*5. When you assemble a candidate from yellow digits, check its value with that rule before typing it; the game refuses an untrue equation without charging a row, but the refusal costs time.
Common Nerdle mistakes
- Guessing an equation that is not true. It will not be accepted, so nothing is lost but time; in the timed mode, though, time is exactly what is being counted.
- Ignoring the symbols on the keyboard. The operators grey out or turn yellow like digits do, and a grey times sign rules out every multiplication at once.
- Putting the equals sign in the same wrong place twice. It is one character, it must appear exactly once, and a yellow on it says only that it belongs in another column.
- Forgetting that digits can repeat. An equation such as 11+11=22 is legal, and a repeated digit is marked only as many times as the answer contains it.
Where does Nerdle come from?
Nerdle was created by Richard Mann and launched in January 2022, a few weeks after Wordle's success had shown how far the format of a daily puzzle, six guesses and a shareable grid could travel. Its idea was to keep every part of that format and replace the word with an equation: eight characters, an equals sign, and the requirement that the arithmetic be true.
This site's Nerdle is its own implementation of that puzzle type. Guesses are parsed rather than evaluated as code, use ordinary order of operations, and require any division to come out exact. Any true equation of the right width may be guessed, but the daily answer is never a degenerate one padded with zeroes, so the search is over roughly seventeen thousand equations worth finding.
How many guesses do you get in Nerdle?
Six, with eight tiles per row. A guess must be a true equation with exactly one equals sign and a plain whole number on the right; anything else is refused before it is scored.
Is Nerdle free, and when does the equation change?
Nerdle is free and needs no sign-up. A new equation is set every day at midnight UTC, and a timed mode lets you solve as many equations as you can against the clock. An account is only needed for the leaderboard. It plays on a phone as well as a desktop.