In the correctly worked subtraction problem, each letter represent a different digit. what is the largest possible value of E?
FLEA
- BEE
-------
MOLE
Clearly E cannot exceed 5, since even with borrowing, A cannot exceed 10.
That would mean something like
FL50
-B55
-------
MO95
To find the largest possible value of E in the subtraction problem FLEA - BEE = MOLE, we need to consider the maximum values for the other digits.
Let's analyze the problem step by step:
1. Start with the units place: In this case, E - E = E. Since E cannot be zero (as no leading zeros are allowed), the maximum value for E in the units place is 9.
2. Move to the tens place: Here, we have A - E = E. Again, since E cannot be zero, the maximum value for A is 8 (as A can be at most 9).
3. Move to the hundreds place: In this step, we have L - B = L + 10. Here, the maximum value that L can take is 9. But since L - B = L + 10 (L < 9), we can conclude that B must be 1. Therefore, L - 1 = L + 10 which is not possible for any value of L.
Since there is no valid solution for this problem, there is no largest possible value for E.