I am angry about ITV's broadcasting, at length, The Mint and similar programmes where answers seems to be obvious yet, it is made to seem that no viewers were calling in depite being constantly urged to by the host/hostess. Many 75p calls are rejected ("not selected"). Thus gullible people pay 75p for nothing at all - not even to go into a draw. To how many thousands of people does this happen? On screen, small moving text passes through a small window. You cannot see a whole sentence at one time. People with reading difficulties are unlikely to be able to read that "calls cost 75p even if not selected". To me, frequent non selection, obscure cost information (and what exactly does non-selection mean - at what point does it occur (not strictly clear)) is an amoral con. Why does Ofcom allow it to continue?

Susan, Nantwich, UK

Say what you may about the US of A, but if this country ever made changes to the monetary system that would prevent its citizens from knowing precisely how many p(ennies) they have, there would be a revolt. Another great example of how difficult life must be in third world countries.

clint glendening, bates city, MO

I'm surprised it has taken this long for someone to complain about this type of programme. One insomniac night, possibly two years ago, I turned on the TV to find such a programme being broadcast, and within five minutes I was asleep!

Brian J Follett, Eastleigh, Hampshire

If the greatest minds in Briton couldn't work out the solution, I would be surprised if the answers below were correct. That said... I like the last one, and think THAT one could well be correct....

Stuart, Reading, Berks

I have a friend who works in this industry, he has created many games including board games and quiz's.

We sat and watched 2 hours of these and found that often there was no right answer!

Also they often say 'that they are waiting for someone to call'
but the lines are stacked with callers, they leave them waiting for ages on premium rate!

scam scam scam! enough of this, remember you do live in rip off britain!

m elliott, bath, somerset

It's simple! The pence are from 2005, so

£2.00 + 25p + £1.47 + 15p + 50p = 438p

Then multiply by real inflation of 15.525% (not the 3% as stated by the government), so that gives 506p

Rhiannon, oxford,

here we go

2 pounds = 2 * 240 pence = 480 pence (old money)
25p = 2 5p(ence in new money) = 2*5 pence = 10 pence
16p = 16 p(ence in new money)
£1.47 isn't pence
50 pence is a new coin and wasn't around in old days

Add it all up.....506!

All conveniently ignores that D was the symbol for pennies in the old days, but there you go.

Can I have my £30,000 now?

Ian Dale, London,

As a rule of thumb I simply will not participate in anything which requires one to call a premium rate number. It is either a scam or something which has the potential to be a scam. I gave up chasing pots of gold at the end of a rainbow a long time ago........

Tom Marshall, Lichfield, England

Thats funny, I got it in five minutes. Of course I already knew that all the obvious answers were wrong and that 506 was the answer. I figured the weird shapes must be there for a reason. It says add the pence so you ignore everything that isn't pence. Then you multiply the number of "points" of the surrouding object by the number inside. 6 x 50 + 5 x 16 + 5 x 25 = 505 plus 1 for the word pence.

Russell Dominique, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Add the amounts given to get 438. Then add "the pence" by numbering the letters of the alphabet starting at 0. So a=0, b=1, etc.

The value of "the pence" is then 19+7+4+15+4+13+2+4, which gives 68.

438 + 68 = 506.

Done.

Rob, Woodbridge, Uk

Please the solution is simplicity itself.
Scam+Gullibility=£££

Dr. S. McGee, Liverpool,

Richard from Adelaide:-

25p isn't 30 pence.
25p = 5 shillings = 60 old pence.

John, London,

The answer given by ITV as ‘correct’ is just as convoluted as all suggestions - possibly even more so. However if you read the question exactly, (though I doubt if this was meant by the setters), the answer should actually be "530".
As many have pointed out, could the whole thing mean ‘old pence’ or ‘new pence’? However the question states "add the pence", but the word 'pence' strictly speaking only refers to pre-decimal coinage - "Pounds, shillings and pence". When we decimalised, the word 'pence' – which inferred 'd' - was purposely changed to 'pee', or 'p'. So in the list, ‘25p’, ‘£1.47’ and ‘16p’ can only be, by their style, decimal amounts, so the only two that could possibly fit in with pre-decimal 'pence' are the 'Two pounds' = 480d and ‘Fifty pence’ = 50d, (or four and tuppence!).
So, QED, 480 + 50 = 530. ITV obviously have it wrong...
(You’d never have this problem on Mastermind!)

mat irvine, Milton Keynes, UK

The problem now is that Richard Clark's answer is plausible enough for ITV to hi-jack it & say it's right
even though it's a fiddle

Mike Carey, Deal, UK

Richard Clark,

a fine answer, but a factor of two out!

David, Twickenham, UK

I'm sure this is a scam. There is no reasonable way that you can come up with 506 as the answer. Not even in pre-decimal money. Richard Clark's answer looks convincing, until you follow it through. An old pound is 12 shillings or 240 old pence, so £2 is 480d not 240d. Other patterns are just natural coincidence that you find with any random set of numbers.

Mike Adams, Madrid, Spain

These programmes should be banned.

Michael J Rigby, Blackburn, e

The way I see it the only thing which is explicitly pence and thus doesnt require conversion is the 50 pence everyhing else gets converted into old currency. Which gives

2 pounds = 240 pence
25p = 30 pence
£1.47 = 167 pence
16p = 19.2 pence
50 pence = 50 pence

ie 240 + 30 + 167 + 19 + 50 = 506.

Richard Clark, Adelaide, Australia

Obviously here is what you do.

Add up all the numbers in the obvious way, getting 438.

Then, the trick is in the phone number. Someone else mentioned the phone number too, but my way is better :-)

Remove the unlucky thirteen from the number. Then remove the lone 0 that was next to the 13. Then take each remaining pair of numbers (09, 26, 11, 22) and add them to 438. The answer? 506!

Jed Clampett, Aylesbury, Bucks

Two pounds, 25p, £1.47, 16p, Fifty pence.
The 3 items stated in pence are:
25p
50p
16p
Look at the last digits of these 3 numbers: 5-0-6.

Could there be something to this?

Dave, New York, USA

If you say "Add the pence" quickly, is sounds like "Add depense". Now "depense" doesn't mean anything in English (as far as I know), but if you number the letters of the alphabet in ascending order (a=1, b=2 etc.) you get d=4 e=5 p=16 e=5 n=14 s=19 e=5 and 4+5+16+5+14+19+5=68 and 68+438=506.

Andrej O'Murchù, Geneva, Switzerland

I've got it! The obvious answer is 438. BUT you have to add the 75p you pay to call. That gets you to 438 + 75 = 513. So what about the extra 7p? British telecom get 7p on each call leaving ITV the missing 68p!

Well, its no worse than any of the other answers.

Al Williams, League City, TX, USA

You can get to 506 any way you want to, the problem with the question is its open ended. You could never get to 506 without already knowing thats where you had to go. How would you ever know to do all those crazy lateral thinking things. The answer to a question/riddle, should be evident. When you have it, you know you have it. I think the fact that they haven't yet provided the reasoning is very damning. Unless they provide reasoning for the answer that is lucid and logical, they should be fined the 250,000.

Adam, Boston, US

Of course the problem here is that 506 is the official answer but not THE answer. If someone came on now and said "sorry actually the answer is 523 we made a mistake", I'm sure there would soon be dozens of explanations of how to get to 523. Once you know the answer you can always get to it. Doing it the other way round is purely down to luck as there is no way of knowing you have worked out the "correct" answer. You just have an answer that may or may not be what they want.

That is the main issue with these things, all answers are equally possible just someone decides which one on a particular day they are going to use.

Totally unfair but not necessarily illegal.

David, Barnstaple, Devon

A friend of mine suggested the following as their answer. It also seems to be fairly simple to follow ?

Ignore £1.47 - that's pounds and fractional pounds
Ignore fifty pence - that's a different denomination coin

two pounds = 480 (old) pence (usable because no currency symbol was given)
25p (usable as lower case p indicates pennies)
1p (from 16P - ignore the 15P as this can be made up from different coins)

That's my 2P and I'm sticking to it!!

Matt, Chelmsford,

I have to admit I was stumped by this so researched on the web. I found an answer(this is not my own I'm afraid!) on http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=541809. I guess the writer won't mind me reposting as I've included the original address!

Two Pounds = 200 +1+2 =203
25p = 25+5+1 = 31
£1.47 = 147+1 = 148
16p = 16+6+1 = 23
Fifty Pence = 50+50+1 = 101

203+31+148+23+101 = 506

If counting the pence everytime you see the letter p that counts as a pence and two pounds can also be broken down into Two P/OUNDS the fisrt half of which is 2p

eg Two POUNDS =200p +2 (2 P) + 1 (P)=405P

Ridiculous but it works...

Jill, Bournemouth, UK

There is 199 pence in two pounds 24 in 25p, 145 in £1,47, 15 in 16p, 49 in 50p and 74 in 75p (phone tariff)

It was the second one that came in my mind (first was 432)

Mikael Halminen, Santtio, Finland

How many pence

two pounds = 200
£1.47 is 147+47+7 = 201
25p is 25+5 = 30
16p is 16+6 = 22
fifty pence = 50
pence + p + p = 3 total 506

nigel wilson, portsmouth, hants

Is it this

Two pounds + 25p + £1.47 + 16p + Fifty pence =

Stop pissing around with an ITV quiz and do some before you get sacked

Andy, Inverness,

two pounds (weight) = 268
25p = 25
£1.47 = 147
16p = 16
fifty pence = 50
-------
total 506

mr e nader, london, uk

easy:
50p+
16p+
£1.47+
25p+
two pounds of gourmet sausages totalling £2.68=
506

Jim Brockman, Praia Grande, Macau S.A.R.

If you add 50 monkeys to three chimpanzees and divide by 784 (carrying remains), oh and don't forget to give them typewriters, then stick in an elephant and make him turn around 4 times before shouting "LaLa" really loud in your open plan office environment, I think you'll find that, like me, you also have 506!

Congratulations.

Now THAT'S lateral thinking for you.

Richard Sarsfield, London,

£1.47 can be discounted as it's pounds and fractions.
fifty pence can be discounted as it's a different coin.

Two pounds = 480 (old) pence (can be used as no currency symbol was given)
25p (lower case - means pence coins)
1p (from the 16P - 15P can be discounted as this can be made from different coins)
Total: 506

That's my 2P and I'm sticking to it!

Pete Jarvis, Billericay,

Ignore £1.47 as that's pounds and fractional pounds.
Ignore fifty pence as that is a different coin.

two pounds = 480 (old) pence. Allowable because no currency symbol has been given
25p (lower case p = pence coins)
1p (from the 16P; 15 can be ignored as this can be made up of other coins)
Total 506 pence.

That's my 2P and I'm sticking to it!

Caesar Radley, Billericay,

If there are indeed 268 pennies in two pounds weight then there is a valid ambiguity in the question that invites an answer of 506 not 438 because you can interpret "pounds" in two ways.

Those proposing that in 25p that the "5" can be described as pence and the remaining "20" component are not described as pence, have to tell us us how to describe the "20" component

Good stuff all round

gareth davies, Sydney, Australia

The list is ambiguous and 'p' is only listed in the list twice, after '25p' and '16p' (whilst fifty pence is not abbreviated so does not look as though it is in the list)
it also does not state how many times you can use each figure.
25 x 10 = 250
16 x 16 = 256
250 + 256 = 506

Sheila Church, sawston, Cambs

Add up all the values it comes to 438.
then add the pence on again

twenty FIVE pence
ten and SIX pence
One pound and forty SEVEN pence
and finally The FIFTY pence
50+5+6+7 =the 68 pence needed to reach the 506

David Rowbottom, Huddersfield, England

In my oppinion I think ITV just comprises questions that have an almost infinate number of possible answers, or a few hard to get to answers, then just strikes them off the list as people answer correctly hoping no-one gets every answer. I know this would be illegal but ALL of their games are made in the same way, they all have multiple ways of answering and I think my idea is a plausable one.

Anthony Owens, Leeds, England

The question is - would any of these solutions get ITV off the hook. All of them require a leap of logic not included in the question, even the most likely involve either currency change, addition of VAT, or mathematical operations based on the colour and shape of the box. Would any of them pass the Rawlplug of reasonability test?

I think D Kennedy, who wrote the original article, needs to demand an answer from ITV. The Truth needs to come out!

Mike Thomas, West Kirby, UK

Add up all values to get 438. The 68 could be obtained this way:

two p(ounds) = 2p
fifty p(ence) = 50p
25p could be 2 x 5p = 10p
16p could be 1 x 6p = 6p

2+50+10+6 =68

438 + 68 = 506

Kevin Cheng, Bushey, Herts

Ignore "two pounds" & "fifty pence" as they are written out. Similarly ignore the 25p and the 16p as they are the same colour as the ignored words. This leaves the £1.47.
Add 4 & 7 equals 11.
Now taking the 1 from the 47 (because it is a pound which is the opposite of pence) leaves 46.
Lastly multiply 11 by 46 gives 506.

Peter Scott, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

This is a play on words and symbols. The symbol p clearly means pence, as does the word pence. The word pounds can refer to either currency or weight. Two pounds in weight of 1p coins = 268 pence, then add the rest 25+147+16+50 total = 506

Jack, Oldham,

I think the extra 68p is found by adding:

+ the word 'pence' (= 1 pence)
+ the four letter 'p's (= 4p)
+ the 'Two p' in 'Two pounds' (2p)
+ the 'Fifty p' in 'Fifty pounds' (50p)
+ the '5p' in '25p' (5p)
+ the '6p' in '16p' (6p)

Phillip Edwards, Nottingham,

I have a completely different solution. If you look at the rectanglular boxes you will need 150p to add to the 50p to get £2. Then work out how much you need to add to get from the smaller stars to the big star, 25p to £1.47 = 122, 16p to £1.47 = 131. And finally to get from the £1.47 to the total of the rectangular boxes £2.50 = 103 and you get:

150+122+131+103 = 506

Well, it adds up!

Keith, Chatham, Kent

Could it be something to do with the fact that only for the figure of "fifty pence" is the word pence actually used, apart from in the question. When it says "Add the pence", this could be to do with adding (although not actually adding, more like tacking onto) the number of letters in " pence" (including the space, ie 6) onto the end of "50". This makes 50 and 6, which could be construed as 506.

Jonathan Ho, Watford,

two pounds=200
25p=25
5p=5
p=1
£1.47=147
47=47
7=7
16p=16
6p=6
p=1
Fifty pence =50
pence=1

Total=506

Steve Bull, Bolton, UK

I can solve this puzzle quite easily, but if ITV have refused to give the solution, then feel i must stick by that too.

All puzzles follow a similar process of working out and once you know how, all you have got to do is get through to the studio, and hey presto!

Liz, Warley, UK

add all amounts up the normal way to get the sum of 438 then add just the last digit of each amount (the pence part) 5 plus 7 plus 6 and lastly add fifty pence.
438+5=443+7=450+6=456+50= 506

It works - it's simple - KISS

Beatrice Parke, Charlottetown, PE Canada

Believe the answer has nothing to do with clever maths or code breaking, but currency conversion. Even though Ireland has used the Euro since 1 Jan 1999, the Irish pound can be exchanged indefinately with the Euro at the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland at a rate of € 1 = IR£ 0.787564. Thus the Irish pound is forever linked to the Euro.

Using todays exchange rate of £1 = €1.467:

£4.38*0.787564*1.467 = 506 Irish pence

The show aired overnight, so the rate could arguably be claimed to be fixed.

However, I don't know what night the show aired - so if the £/€ rate is different that's my theory blown!

J Hayes, Washington DC, USA

Is this it?


Two pounds: 200
25p: 25
£1.47: 147
16p: 16
Fifty pence: 50
(Two p)ounds: 2
2(5p): 5
1(6p): 6
(Fifty p)ence: 50
two (p)ounds: 1
25(p): 1
16(p): 1
Add the (p)ence: 1
Fifty (p)ence: 1
--------
506

stephen jones, godalming,

Edward de Bono had the clue -lateral thinking not maths - pence is old pence.

1. In for a penny, in for a pound. Two pounds = 2p= 4.8 old pence
2. 147 plus 25 plus 16 = 188p=451.2 old pence
3. fifty pence = 50 old pence

Add 1,2 and 3 = 4.8 plus 451.2 plus 50 = 506

A Buxton resident

peter croft, buxton, uk

2pounds 288 old pence
+25
+16
+147 new pence
+50
total526pence less 20 star points =506

seandaniels, woodford, co galway eire

Simple, 2lbs of 1 penny pieces are £2.68. Then add the other coins........

Hey presto £5.06.

Corinne Shelton, Derby, England

All the answers so far have made the mistake of ignoring the Rawplugs. The most common sizes of Rawplugs found in a woman's handbag are 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 18. These sizes total 68, and if this is added to 438 (the total of the pence) one arrives at 506.

Charles Hanson, Guisborough, North Yorkshire

If you add the pence up
25P+
16p+
47p+
50p+
=138p
then if you use the code a=1 b=2.....z=26 you get 9p for add, 33p for the, 43p for pence, 58p for two, 89p for pounds, 66p for fifty and 43p for pence which gives you
009
033
043
058
089
066
043
138
=479 then add the phone number up
0+9+0+1+3+2+6+1+1+2+2=27 and 27 plus479
479
027
=506

marlon, waddesdon, England

Ignore the two pounds - it doesn't contain pence.
Add together the 16p and 25p to make 41p and convert to old pence - makes 98.4 old pennies - round up to 99.
Treat the 1.47 as 1 pound (240 old pennies) and 47 old pennies. 99 + 240 + 47 makes 386. Take the 50 pence and convert to old pennies (makes 120). 386 plus 120 = 506.

(I wonder if we can find 506 solutions ...)

sarah mackley, Reading, UK

Its a crossword answer in the best traditions of the Times Crossword.

Count the number of vocalisations of the [p]ence in all the amounts and then add this to the 50 to get 506.

two [p]ounds, 25[p], one [p]ound and 47[p], 16[p], fifty [p]ence

Terry White, Birmingham, UK

Add all the numbers plus the words pence(3) including the call cost 75 pence.

MjHarriss, Stockport, uk

One way to get 506 is to only look at the '50 pence', since this is the only place where 'pence' is mentioned in words. Then add up the number of sides of this panel (6). Place these numbers side by side = 506.

Nick Helps, Bath, UK

All the answers so far have made the mistake of assuming that two pounds referred to either pounds sterling or pounds weight. It actually refers to Cyprus pounds. At the time of the quiz the exchange rate was such that that a Cyprus pound was equivalent 134 UK pence, ie two Cyprus pounds = 268. Add 147 + 50 +25 +16 and one arrives at 506

Jane Hanson, Guisborough, North Yorkshire

Seems to me that Edward de Bono was correct - use a mixture of old and new

Two Pounds in old money = 240 pence
£1.47 in old money = 167 pence

Add the 25 & 16 & 50 to the above and you get 498 pence. Thats still 8 pence short. Now now look at the letters - there are 5 p's and 3 d's (that's old pennies for the younger ones) - 8 pence in total

Bingo

Mind you this could be one of many solutions looking through other peoples 'solutions' but it works for me. Now can i go back to the Sudoku please

Martin, bristol,

Converting to old pence.

£2 does not mention pence and can be ignored
£1.47 can be treated as old money as no p or d is shown.
This converts to 287d
25p = 60d
50p = 120d
16p = 38.4d

This totals 505.4d. This would require 506d

Alan, london,

This puzzle is not logical in it's wording but:

£2 + £1.47 + 50p + 16p + 25p = 438

Add the pence...

7p + 50p + 6p + 5p = 68

438 + 68 = 506

There ya go!! Simple aint it!! Indeed, the individual of lesser intelligence would stand more chance...

James Beech, Bradford, England

add the listed values up to get £4.38, then add the "pence" to this - in this case the pence being 5, 7, 6 and 50 (the latter because it's got the word "pence next to it") to get £5.06.

Okay, it's horribly ambiguous, but it's the best I can do. Thus far I think Richard Mudd's answer looks best as it only uses a single word trick.

Pat Fox-ROberts, Rosyth, UK

If ITV takes two pounds weight of pennies, and adds the other amounts in money, then 506 is plausible. I expect they have a useful stock of slightly worn pennies: with new coins they are about 7p short.

John Craven, Petersfield, UK

A candidate solution which best observes occam's razor, is easily understood, and is not arbitrary:
Monetary amounts in pence 200+147+50+25+16=438
Write down these amounts as symbolised in the puzzle and calculate the sum of the letters: two pounds=9, one hundred and forty seven=23, two five pence=12, one six pence=11, five zero pence=13; 9+23+12+11+13=68...438+68 = 506

Simon Farrell, Rayleigh,

Consider each value in the list as consisting of something and a pence unit. Read them aloud and you can feel what I meant. That is: "Two pounds" = 2 & 0 unit; "Fifty pence" = 50 & 0 unit; "25p" = 20 & 5 units; "£1.47" = 1 & 47 units; "16p" = 16 units. Sum up all the "pence units" = 68 pence and add this to the sum of the original list of values(438) = 506.

Raymond Kwan, Leeds, UK

147+25+16+50 = 248 +5 Letters P for pence = 253
add the above total which is the number of pence on view to itself and you have 506.

Francis Murphy, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway

I think the answer is a mistake.

Ignore the two pounds because they are pounds weight.

Convert the 50p into old money= 120d
Likewise convert 25p =60d
and 16p=38d
That amounts to 218d
Add 240d to represent the pound of £1.47 which equals 458d.
One should add 113d to represent the 47p but instead and mistakingly 47d has been added.
This produces 505d

Please can I have £30,000

Gary Phillips, Lincoln,

Try this:
Two pounds = 200
25p= 25
5p=5
p (for pence)=1
£1.47=147
47=47
7=7
16p=16
6p=6
p=1
Fifty pence=50
pence=1

Add 'em all up and you get.....506.

Steve, Bolton, UK

Its a Crossword puzzle answer in the best traditions of the famous Times crossword.

Add the number of p's that occur in the vocalisation of the amounts

Two [p]ounds, 25[p] One [P]ound and 47[p], 16[p] Fifty [p]ence = 6 in total.

Add to the 50 to get 506. Simple

Terry White, Birmingham, UK

You have to add VAT!

The "Fifty pence" is for a food item, so there's no VAT on it.

The total would be 505.9 pence, but the VAT is rounded off to 506.

Sam Black, Stamford Hill,

the symbols containing the values indicate actions to be taken

two pounds is in a symbol that means 'double and add'

25p and 16p are in a symbol that means 'take the square root and add'

£1.47 is in a symbol that means 'add'

fifty pence is in a symbol pointing in a negative direction that means 'subtract'

all together, then: (2*200)+(root 25)+(root 16)+(147)-(50)
becomes 400+5+4+147-50
which equals 506

richard mott, lincoln, lincs

It's a mixture of old and new currency.

Sum of Values shown = 438 pence
Then, referring to all words shown, add
5 x letter p = 5 pence
3 x letter d (old penny) = 3 pence
2 x letter f (a florin in old money worth 24d) = 48 pence
1 x letter s (a shilling in old money worth 12d) = 12 pence

Add all that up and the answer is 506 pence.

Geoff Bevitt, London, UK

One way to get 506 is to only look at the '50 pence', since this is the only place where 'pence' is mentioned in words. Then add up the number of sides to this panel (6). Place these numbers side by side = 506.

Nick Helps, Bath, UK

The letters p and d both stand for pence. In the depiction of the sums of money, the letter p occurs three times and the letter d once. If d=4 and p=16, this yields the missing 68 to make 506 in all.

Noel Petty, Stockton-on-Tees, UK

I have come up with a solution but do not want to reveal it here until next game on itv to check if my solution would bring me some bucks.

Eliminate 2 pounds and £1.47 since they are in pound but not in pence format. Make use of 'one' value out of the three remaining amounts.

Clue: Every coin has two values; a monetary value and a literal value, both of which sum up to a numerical value. These are separate values and cannot be summed up arithmetically; like water and oil they don't mix. They can only be put side by side, like apples and oranges. And they are not saying £5.06 or 506 pence. They are only giving us a numerical value of 506.

Good luck everybody!

Orof Thun, London, UK

I don't think it is that complicated

Take Fifty Pence (50) plus the number of individual numbers shown as pence (254716) (6) = 506

Not mathematically elegant, but I suspect all the quiz master was capable of!

Nigel Hawke, Kenilworth, Warwickshire

Add the pence to 25p to get £2 175
Add the pence to 16p to get £1.47 131
Add the pence to 50p to get £2.50 200
____
506

Matthew Shiels, Kenilworth, UK

maybe the symbols and colours have something to do with it. maybe colour in order of calculation and there are signs which could mean minus divide multiply etc...?

thomas, falmouth,

Our answer:
2 pounds 200
2 p(ounds) 2
25p 25
(2)5p 5
£1.47 147
16p 16
(1)6p 6
Fifty pence 50
Fifty p(ence) 50
Then add p(ence), p(ounds), (25)p, (16)p and finally p(ence) from words = 5
Total = 200+2+25+5+147+16+6+50+50+5=506

Ally, Graham & Colin
The Civil Servants

Alastair Reid, Edinburgh, Scotland

Adding all the obvious figures gives 438

Add the "p"s = 2
+ words "pence" = 2
+ letters of "pence" in the title = 5
+ letters in "fifty pence"= 10
+ two star shapes as they contain pence = 2
+ 47p of the £1.47 as even though added the whole amount already the shape is showing 47p = 47
438 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 10 + 2 + 47= 506

Anna Towey, Upminster, UK

If 268 pence weigh 2 lbs, that's your answer.

Paul Knighton, Willingham, England

There are three horizontal strings. 2 of them are similar, and their contents add up to £2.50. Because the two strings are similiar we double the value to get £5.00.

The third string contains "Add the" pence. There are six characters in "add the". So £5.00 plus 6 pence = £5.06.

... or so I would argue if I were a desperate ITV executive :)

Actually, I think it might be something to do with the colours.

James McClellan, Portsmouth, Hants

Try this: say a penny weighs 3.2 grams and a pound weight = 453.6 grams, then two lbs = 907.20 grams and then two pounds of coins (weight) would be GBP 283.50 or so - add the other amounts and you hit 505 or so. Of course I may be wrong, but may be a genius.

Martyn, Apeldoorn, Holland

OK this is quite lateral but also consistent and logical - but pretty obscure (as I guess any answer would be)

Think only in old money (ignore anything that is new money) and look at the amounts. The only one that really works is "Two pounds". Now that is 2 X 240d (old pence). So 480 so far.

Notice that "pounds" contains the letters 'd' (1 old penny) and 's' (12d) so we have another 13. BUT it says "Two pounds" so we have 2 X 13 = 26.

Add the pence as it says and you get 480 + 26 = 506.

Martin

Now, can I have my £30,000 - please?

Martin Ellis, Isleworth, England

I have a solution the add the pence question. If you take all th pence and spell them out so
25p becomes twenty five
16p bcomes sixteen
fifty pence remains fifty pence
and the 47p from £1.47p becomes forty seven.
Then for all these spellings take the position of each letter in the alphabet as its value e.g a=1, b=2, ... z=26 and add them up e.g twenty five becomes 20+23+5+14+20+25 , the five becomes 6+9+22+5, following this through
twenty=107 five =42 sixteen=96 fourty=105 seven=65 fifty=66 if you add up all these numbers you arrive at 481.
Then add the numbers that make up the pence that is 25 is 2+5=7, 16 is 1+6=7, 47 is 4+7= 11 these together = 25 you then take 25+481 = 506

n.b The two punds is totally ignored because it has no'pence'.

Benjamin Josephs, Wembley, London, UK

Two pounds weight of pennies would total 268 then add the other sums 25+147+16+50=506

Richard Mudd, Medway, UK

Could it be a matter of simply adding the number of letters preceding the word 'pence'?
Thus: 5 letters at the bottom ( in 'fifty')
0 letters in the middle section, where the word 'pence' is not used
6 letters in 'Add the' at the top
= 506
...but it's certainly helpful, in reaching this solution, to know what you're aiming at! I've merely made the solution fit the answer.

Maggie Godfrey, Potters Bar,

Reading the fifty pence as old currency, then adding it to the number of old pence, ignoring shillings, the amounts written in new currency convert to gives:

25 p - 60d
£1.47 - 352.8d
16p - 38.4d
plus 50d gives 501.2 old pence. If the "Two pounds" is read as weight and ignored, this is getting closer. If it can somehow be read as two new pence, perhaps because of the letter p, it can be converted and added to give 506 pence.

Colin Robertson, Dumfries, Scotland

Alarms bells should have rung when £30,000 was on offer to answer a seemingly simple question.

Frank Greaney, Formby Liverpool, United Kingdom

Ignore my earlier answer - this is it:

Add the amounts to give 4.38

Then note that 'p' = 16 on the A=1, B=2 basis

'p' appears 4 times, making 64.

Then add the p themselves, making another 4 p

Total = 4.38 + 64 + 4 = 506.

Toby Darling, Winchester, UK

Add the £1.47, 25p, 16p and 50p's to give 2.38p

Then add two pounds in old money (288 pennies) to
give 5.26

Now subtract the number of points on the stars surrounding the 25p, 16p and 1.47, which is 5 + 5 + 10 (20).

This yields 506 pence.

Toby Darling, Winchester, UK

Two pounds written down must be weight of coins that make up the difference

1.47
.16
.25
.50
-----
2.38 plus two pounds in weight of one p coins

Marj Kurthausen, Wirral,

Its easy, dont try to add anything up. Just think of a number..... ring up... spend 70p and see if you win.


Pick a number between 1 and 7.




5

Steve, Leeds,

Using the simple substitution suggested by Karen Howe, I make THE PENCE = 20+8+5+16+5+14+3+5=76!

68 would only be "THE PEN" or "TE PENCE" if you forget to add the second character. I suspect your prize giver would also forget the second character giving you £0,000.

Mike Thomas, West Kirby, UK

add the money to get 438
then add 2 p from the words 'two pounds' ie knock off ounds
then add 50 p from the words 'fifty pence' ie knock off ence
then add 4 p because there are 4 letter ps
then add 1 p for the word pence
then add the 5 p from 25p
then add 6 p from 16 p

There are probably loads of ways of arriving at 506... once you know that that's the answer. I will assume that anyone who is smart enought to work out a solution isn't daft enough to throw their money away in the first place.

Helen N, Warrington, Cheshire

Where's the comments gone?

240 (two pounds) + 25+16+100+75 +50 = 506 ??

nothing for .47

gareth davies, Sydney, Australia

The simplest way to get 506 is to take the two written sums
which added together total 250 then add the three stars which
contain numerals you then have 253 double it = 506
as nutty as squirrel poo

alec duncan, london,

haha. that would be really funny if Baz Elvin's answer was right! All those nerds cant come cheap for The Times! the other two answers cant be right though. For a start the first one is obviously concocted simply to arrive at the answer given, and the last one would be biased against blind/partially sighted people, which would equally get ITV in trouble.
Baz, buy us a pint if they give you the cash?

steven hawking, manchester,

It would seem logical that the pounds indicate weight and therefore 2 pounds of pence plus the pence indicated equals 506. If not then the 2 pounds of pence could be in any coin size giving the correct answer. Also where they are weighed would be a factor. A wide range of possible "correct" answers is thus possible. If this is the correct solution then all those years of Omega 3 capsules have not been in vain.

Mr Stanley Coutts, Aberdeen, Scotland

Why do so many people believe that the 'pence' in this question only applies to the least significant digit? If they were in a shop and bought a chocolate bar for 49 pence, would they really expect the shopkeeper to accept only 9p?

Mike Thomas, West Kirby, UK

We might, as an alternative, use Edward de Bono's idea about old and new pence and "add together all amounts of new pence, having first converted them (where possible without rounding) to old pence".

So: (1) ignore £1.47 because that's Italian lire
(2) convert £2 and 25p to old pence and add them together, giving 480+60=540
(3) assume the 50 pence is "d" and should therefore be subtracted rather than added -> 490
(4) add the remaining 16p.

It's obvious!

Lynda Kyle, Gloucester,

Adding the obvious values gives 438. Now look for the "p"s.

The 25p gives another "5p", and "p" = 6
The 16p gives another "6p", and "p" = 7
£1.47 doesn't have any = 0
"fifty pence" has another "fifty p", "pence" and "p", making 52.
"two pounds" has another "two p" and "p" giving 3.
In total: 6+7+52+3 making the missing 68.

No, I don't believe it either!

Peter Shute, Portsmouth, UK

Simple!
'Add the pence'...only three of the amounts refer to pence that is
25p
16p, and
Fifty pence
last number from each of these amounts, eg in the units (pence) column is
'5' and '6' and '0'
So the answer is 5-0-6 they could be given in any order, the answer is NOT Five hundred and six.
Note the quaetion asks, 'add the pence' NOT 'add UP the pence'

Peter Davies, Northants, UK

Convert every number into old money pence EXCEPT the £1 in the £1.47 figure. This gives 100 + 1.2 x (200 + 47 + 50 + 25 + 16) = 100 + 405.6 = 506 (rounded up).

Andrew Mackie, Peterborough, Cambs.

Easy!

The cash in the boxes adds up to 438 pence, no trickery there. Then you add THE PENCE using a simple substitution: A=1, B=2, C=3 etc. That gives you the extra 68 you need.

Can I have my £30,000 now? No, really, I mean it.

Karen Howe, birmingham,

Baz Elvin may be interested to know that according to The Royal Mint (CLICKY and Google calculator, (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=2+lb+%2F+3.56g&btnG=Search) there are only 254.827174 pennies in every 2lb.

Even if this is the correct method (which would be rather clever), "506" is too precise an answer and is officially wrong. After all, that's a difference of 13p between our two calculations.

Andrew Taylor, Leeds,

200+25+147+16+50=438

now thats 68p short so you use the system where A=1, B=2 etc. to find the value of hte word pence which is 43. the word pence appears twice in the puzzle giving a total value of 86 which can also be seen as a 6 and an 8 giving 68!

Bingo.

Joseph Lavi, London, England

I suggest the following. Add all the values = 438.
Then add on all the odd pence in the numbers. i.e. 5+7+6=456.
Then add the value that actually says pence itself. i.e. fifty pence. =506

Alex Parsons, Formby, UK

I think its meant to be as simple as:

The only numbers that have pence when written out in full are 25, for 25 pence, 50 for 50 pence and 16 for 16pence.

ignoring the tens, you are left with 5 0 6 but it should not be written as a number!

Julia McKay, Polstead Suffolk,

My solution is to take all numbers without pounds; then take last figure of pence (i.e. no 'tens' of pence); then put these sequentially:
2 5
5 0
1 6
Answer in last column - 506

Peter Bodman, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK

I have a solution. When it says "Add the pence" it means "add the pence listed below to the sum of all the amounts of money listed below".

So you start by adding two pounds, 25p, £1.47, 16p and fifty pence together to get £4.38. To that you then add the "pence". What does it mean by the pence? It means the number nearest to the "p" for "pence". So you add 5p from 25p, 7p from 47p and 6p from 16p, and then you add the fifty pence because it is written as a word (not a numeral).

So you get £4.38+5p+7p+6p+fifty pence =£5.06.

You then convert it back into pence and get 506.

Can I have the £30,000 please.

Matt West, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

The key is obviously to realise that 'pounds' refers to the weight of pennies; using the handful of coins I found at the back of a drawer (I knew they'd come in handy one day) and the kitchen scales I calculated 134 pence per pound. Adding 268 to the rest of the monetary values gives 506. Asking logicians and professors of mathematics about a question set by a couple of blokes who probably went to art school is quite inapproprite. Now, how about a share of the thirty grand - not in pence, thank you.

Baz Elvin, Corsham, , Wilts.,

L>R 200+25=225; down minus 16=209; R>L+147=356; the difference between £2 (at top) and 50p (at bottom)=150: add this to the 356 =506 QED

Keith Redshaw, Lydd, Kent.,

The values in the boxes are all prices of goods exclusive of VAT in a shop. The only difference is that the 50p item is for a non-VAT item such as a newspaper. Once VAT is added to the items the prices become:

£2.35
£1.73
£0.50
£0.29
£0.19

Total bill = £5.06 = 506p

Mike Thomas, West Kirby, UK

Assuming the larger numbers are written in base eleven this gives 242 + 172 = 414. The smaller numbers in base ten are 25 + 16 + 50 = 91. This gives 505 but if you add 1 for the word pence in the question then you get 506. But by equally tortious logic I could have made the answer Rawlplugs if I had wanted.

Stephen Goldstraw, London,

Use numerical values (a=1 etc) for two pounds, fifty pence and the p's in 25p & 16p = 268. Then add the pence from everything except Two pounds 268 + 25 + 16 + 147 + 50 = 506

Matthew Osman, Eton, UK

I'm sure Mr Cronk miscounted his pennies - 368 not 268 Jonathan!

Tom Fulbrook, London, UK

Forget the rest. This is it.
Add the amounts together as PENCE = 438
Add the amount stated as PENCE = 50
Add the PENCE (Not tens or hundreds) from the amounts in figures
5+6+7 = 18

438 + 50 +18 = 506

phil hampson, Astley, UK

As can be seen by the variety of tenuous answers here, short of knowing ITV's actual solution, it would appear this is an illogical problem that has an infinite number of equally preposterous "solutions". I would be pleasantly surprised if ITV could give a true solution that was genuinely logical, but this is looking less and less likely to be the case; this is more likely a scam linked to the phone-in competition fraud currently ruling the headlines. Since everyone is having so much fun with this nonsense, try this on for size: A man has seven pigs, he then buys two more only. Explain how the total number of pigs he has now is 643.

Abioye Oyetunji, London,

Read it all out loud. Ignore 'two pounds' and 'One point four seven pounds'. Take 25 pence and multiply by five (for its five-pointed star), 50 pence and multiply by six (for the six-sided shape), and 16 pence multiplied by five (for its five-pointed star), and one 'pence' in the instruction line. 125 + 300 + 80 + 1 = 506.

Annabel Cormack, London, UK

1. Add up the pence

200+25+147+16+50=438

4+3+8=15

1+5=6=pence

2. Add on the pence

Fifty with the pence (6) added on is 506.

Marcus, Yung He,

Alan Brown has almost provided the right answer - except the pence should total 506 not 508.

Tom Fulbrook, London, UK

Mr Leighton Vaughan Williams seems to have conveniently forgotten the fifty pence, otherwise a nice solution.

Tom Fulbrook, London, UK

I wonder if there has been a breakdown in communication here. Perhaps the fifty pence figure should actually have been fifteen pence but someone misheard and instead put fifty pence on the screen. If so, the sum of the intended pence figures (25,16,15) is 56. This may have been expressed verbally as “Fifty. Six”, which has been misinterpreted as '5-0-6'. Just a thought.

Alastair, Surrey,

I'm sure like many readers I have found a way to get 506 which is simple when you have the answer.
You need to split the numeric one into parts so £1.47 becomes 147+47+7, etc. Then 1 count for each written word pence or p, so:
Two Pounds=200
25p=25+5+1=31
£1.47=147+47+7=201
16p=16+6+1=23
Fifty Pence=50+1=51

So total: 506

Ian Purvey, Guildford,

First, convert all the values given in words to weight in lbs: two pounds + fifty pence (taken to be 0.5 pounds) = 2.5 lbs

Convert the weight in pounds to the weight of 1 pence coins (Royal Mint states a 1 pence coin is 3.56 grams, equivalent to 0.00784845653lbs which is approximately equal to 127 1 pence coins). Hence 2.5lbs is approximately 318 pence.

Finally add on the remaining money values (147 + 25 + 16) pence to give 318 + 188 = 506 pence.

David, London, UK

Two Pounds = 200p
£1.47=147p
Fifty pence=50p
16p=16p
25p=25p
Two Pounds contains Two p=2p
Fifty pence contains Fifty p=50p
16p contains 6p=6p
25p contains 5p=5p
There are also 4 letter p's=4p
1 letter d (old pence) =1p in the wording
Total = 200+147+50+16+25+2+50+6+5+4+1=506

Frank Clements, Bromley, Kent

Three possibilities stike me:

1) Perhaps the key is that the answer is quoted as a dimensionless quantity, not a number of pence. Of course, you can never get a dimensionless quantity by adding sums of money (which means ITV's assertion that 506 is even in the set of possible answers is wrong), so the question becomes, "what are the units of the answer"? Find a currency whose exchange rate was 506 / 438.

2) If this were an old chestnut, it would probably be "two pounds of beef" or something similar. In which case the answer is whatever you want it to be.

3) The question doesn't actually say that you only add each penny once....

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

I wonder if there has been a breakdown in communication here. Perhaps the fifty pence figure should actually have been fifteen pence but someone misheard and instead put fifty pence on the screen. If so, the sum of the intended pence figures (25,16,15) is 56. This may have been expressed verbally as “Fifty. Six”, which has been misinterpreted as ‘5-0-6’. Just a thought.

Alastair, Surrey,

2 pounds = 480 old pence.

£1.47 + 25 + 16 = 1+4+7+2+5+1+6 = 26

480+26 = 506

Simple!

Leighton Vaughan Williams, Nottingham, UK

Ignore the "Two pounds" and the £1.47 because they're not "pence". Take the numbers of single pence from the other three quantities i.e. 5, 0 and 6 and simply combine them as 506. (n.b. did the presenter say the answer was "five hundred and six" or "five-zero-six"?)

Graham Keniston-Cooper, London,

Seems obvious when you know the answer. 506-(25+47+16+50)=268

I weighed two pounds of pennies from my piggy-bank and there were 268 of them!

What were Mensa doing all night?

Jonathan Cronk, Deal,Kent, UK

Obviously normal maths rules are suspended for this, so:-

there are Fifty pence (50) and of the rest, we have 6 digits for p (25, 16, 47) therefore 506!

Horrible, I know.

Ron Elliott, Edinburgh,

At a glance - the fifty pence is in "old money" not "p", ie 120p -QED Total = 508

Alan Brown, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

Using a=1, b=2, c=3 etc etc then adding the sum of all the pence (25+47+16+50) equals 430.
If you then add "the pence", which using the same formula is 76, you arrive at 506.
It's the only way I could get there.

Bill Allder, Paris, France

Assuming "Two pounds" to be 2 pounds weight with 184 used pennies per pound gives 368 pennies. Add remaining pence (excluing £'s) gives 25+47+16+50=138 plus 368 = 506. (Note there are actually 181 unused pennies per pound weight but 184 allows for wear.)

Bruce Harrison, London, UK

Would it take 268 pence to weigh two pounds?

Nick Hart, Downham Market,