Daily Equation Game: Guess Today's Calculation

By CalcSmith · Published Nov 5, 2026 · Last updated Nov 5, 2026

Daily Equation is CalcSmith's daily math game: one hidden calculation, the same for every visitor, and six tries to find it. The target number sits above the grid — your job is to work out the exact 6-character calculation that reaches it, reading the green, amber and grey clues each guess leaves behind. A new puzzle lands every day at midnight UTC.

How to play Daily Equation

1. Read the target. Today's hidden calculation equals the target number shown above the grid — for example, a target of 24.
2. Enter a 6-character calculation. It is three numbers joined by two operators; the numbers can be one or two digits each, so 12+3×4 — which equals 24 — fills the grid exactly. Use the on-screen keyboard or your own.
3. Press Enter. A guess that is not a valid calculation is rejected without costing you a try: every division must come out whole and there is no dividing by zero.
4. Read the colors. Each tile turns green, amber or grey (explained below). Adjust and guess again — you have six tries in total.
5. Come back tomorrow. The puzzle is seeded by the date, so everyone plays the same one, and a fresh target arrives at midnight UTC.

What counts as a valid calculation

The hidden calculation always has the same shape: three numbers joined by two of the operators + − × ÷, six characters in all. Each number is one or two digits, and a two-digit number never starts with zero — 12+3×4 is legal, 07+2×3 is not. Standard order of operations applies, exactly as our calculators apply it: multiplication and division are worked out before addition and subtraction, left to right. So 2+3×40 is 122, not 200, because the 3×40 happens first. Every division inside the calculation must come out whole — 48÷4÷2 is fine (it equals 6), but 1÷2×44 is not allowed, because 1÷2 is not a whole number. The result is always a whole number between 2 and 99, and that result is your target. If you want to check how any of this arithmetic behaves, the same rules power every tool on the finance calculators hub.

How the colors work

Green means the character is in the hidden calculation and in exactly that position. Amber means the character is in the calculation, but in a different position. Grey means the character is not in the calculation at all — with one subtlety: duplicates are counted honestly. If the hidden calculation contains a single 3 and your guess has two, only one of them can turn green or amber; the second goes grey once the hidden 3 is accounted for. The on-screen keyboard colors itself the same way, so you can see at a glance which digits and operators are still in play.

Tips for solving today's equation

Open with variety: a first guess like 2×3+14 tests four different digits and two operators at once, which buys far more information than doubling up early. Watch the target's size — a target under 10 almost always hides a subtraction or a division, while a target above 50 needs a multiplication doing the heavy lifting. Remember the result is a whole number, so if your running total turns fractional mid-guess, the page will reject it: work backwards from the target instead, asking which two small steps could land on it. And treat amber operators as gold: there are only four operators, so pinning down both positions early turns the rest of the puzzle into simple digit placement. For a different kind of practice, the percentage calculator shows the same order-of-operations rules at work on real money questions.

Frequently asked questions