this is interesting

[andrea]

Okay, mathematical genius, figure this one out. After clicking on the
> link below and getting a page, then always click on the little guy on
> the right bottom corner to go to the next page for the next
> instruction..
> this is amazing!..
>
> web page (http://digicc.com/fido/)

[Sharp Eye Washington]

Very interesting (in the voice of the old Laugh In character)

[D J 1 3 8]

Basically, it's a formula.

Pick a number X

When you transpose the digits of X (turning 1234 into 1324) and take the differnce you will have a number divisible by nine

Numbers that are divisible by nine have a unique property. That property is: the sum of their digits is also divisible by nine (for instance 123453 is divisible by nine because 1+2+3+4+5+3=18)

The guy asks you for the numbers you didn't circle.

So basically the equation works like this.

known+known+known+unknown=something divisible by nine

( BTW, I did not figure this out on my own. Some math nerd explained it to me on another board. I failed math more times than I can count.)