HES + THE = BEST
What is this puzzle?
Solve the addition alphametic puzzle where HES + THE = BEST. Each letter represents a unique digit from 0-9. No number starts with zero.
Difficulty: easy · Category: addition · Unique letters: 5
This easy-level addition alphametic puzzle features 5 unique letters (B, E, H, S, T). In the equation HES + THE = BEST, each letter maps to a distinct digit from 0 to 9. With only 5 of 10 digits used, 5 digits remain unused in the solution. The leading letters H and T and B cannot represent zero — this is your first constraint. The result "BEST" has more digits than any addend, which means there must be a carry into the leftmost position. This is a crucial clue for determining the result's leading letter. As a beginner-friendly puzzle, the constraints are straightforward and the solution can be found through logical deduction without advanced techniques.
- This addition alphametic has 5 unique letters to determine.
- Leading letters: H, T, B. None of these can be zero.
- There are 5 unique letters, so 5 digits from 0–9 will not be used.
- Start from the rightmost column (units place) and work left, tracking carries between columns.
- With two addends, each column can produce a carry of at most 1.
- With few unique letters, you can often solve this by systematic trial and error.