How the formula solver works

Many puzzle caches and multi-caches give the final location as a formula. You find the value of each letter along the way, then work out the coordinates. Type or paste the formula and CacheCrack adds a box for every letter it finds. Fill them in and the result updates as you go.

Letters are replaced by their numbers. Anything inside round or square brackets is worked out as math, so (C+3) with C=4 becomes 7. You can use + - * / and ^, and 2A inside brackets means 2 times A. The N, S, E and W at the start of each half are read as directions, so a formula can still use E or W as a variable.

Example

N 42° 2A.B(C+3) W 083° 0D.(E*2)F with A=0, B=1, C=0, D=3, E=2 and F=6 gives N 42° 20.130 W 083° 03.460.

Catching mistakes

If the minutes come out at 60 or more, or a bracket works out to a fraction, CacheCrack tells you. That usually means one of the values is off, which saves a trip to the wrong spot.