The first six letters of the alphabet are assigned values $\mathrm{A}=1, \mathrm{~B}=2, \mathrm{C}=3, \mathrm{D}=4, \mathrm{E}=5$, and $\mathrm{F}=6$. The value of a word equals the sum of the values of its letters. For example, the value of BEEF is $2+5+5+6=18$. Which of the following words has the greatest value?
(A) BEEF
(B) FADE
(C) FEED
(D) FACE
(E) DEAF
The first six letters of the alphabet are assigned values $\mathrm{A}=1, \mathrm{~B}=2, \mathrm{C}=3, \mathrm{D}=4, \mathrm{E}=5$, and $\mathrm{F}=6$. The value of a word equals the sum of the values of its letters. For example, the value of BEEF is $2+5+5+6=18$. Which of the following words has the greatest value?
(A) BEEF
(B) FADE
(C) FEED
(D) FACE
(E) DEAF

## Solution

Each of the five given words contains both an " $\mathrm{E}$ " and an " $\mathrm{F}$ ", so we can eliminate these letters for the purposes of making the comparison. So after eliminating these letters we are looking at the 5 "words",
(A) $\mathrm{BE}$
(B) $\mathrm{AD}$
(C) ED
(D) $\mathrm{AC}$
(E) DA

The highest value of these five words is ED, which has a value of 9 , thus implying that FEED has the highest value of the original five words.

Alternatively, we could have calculated the value of each of the five words, and again seen that FEED has the highest value.

ANswer: (C)