# Plaid CTF 2014: multiplication is hard
**Category:** Misc**Points:** 10**Description:**
> The Plague went back in time... but we haven't yet figured out what he did this time... Anyway, what is 38.55 * 1700?
## Write-up
Mathematically, `38.55 * 1700 = 65535` but that solution was not accepted.
Years ago (“back in time”), [Excel used to have a bug](http://blogs.office.com/2007/09/25/calculation-issue-update/) where calculations that resulted in a number close to 65,535 would instead show a result of 100,000.
The flag is `100000`.
## Other write-ups and resources
* <https://github.com/hackerclub/writeups/blob/master/plaidctf-2014/multiplication-is-hard/WRITEUP-pipecork.md>* <http://csrc.tamuc.edu/css/?p=152>