Trying to find the answer to the math code in the September 2010 issue of Focus on the Family Clubhouse magazine? Just put 2-and-2 together!

If you missed it, here’s what was in the magazine:

4+3      3x5      2x2      20-1     7x3     8+8     4x4     14-2     8+1     5x1     25-6

How It Works:
You’re probably familiar with this code key of A=1 through Z=26. Easy enough, right? Wrong! First you have to solve a math problem. Then you can break the code.


1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26
A  B  C  D E  F G H   I    J    K     L   M    N    O   P    Q    R    S    T    U    V   W    X     Y    Z


Here’s what the word Odyssey would look like:

  O            D             Y             S            S           E           Y 
7+8        9-5          5x5        20-1      9+10     3+2     25x1
15           4              25          19          19          5         25


Coolness!
Did you know that ancient Greeks had a hard time accepting zero as a number? Since it was nothing, they didn’t believe it could be something. It wasn’t recognized as a number until around A.D. 9 when an Indian scholar proved its “value” to mathematics!

Look for another secret message next month!