*Note to self, ‘storm’ is a good five-letter word. Ooh, ‘world’ is too!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re sure you all know what Wordle is by now (and probably, like us, play it every day), but by way of a brief description: it’s an online, daily brain teaser that challenges you to guess a five-letter target word. You have six chances, and when you get a correct letter but in the wrong place the letter’s tile turns orange, and when you get the correct letter in the correct place, that tile turns green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s a simple concept \u2013 and one so popular that the New York Times recently acquired the game for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To solve the puzzle, a good grasp of English will certainly help. But could another subject \u2013 maths, for instance \u2013 be just as useful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, according to our experts, it can certainly help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your first guess is all important, and you need to make it count. Without a dictionary, the total number of five-letter variations comes in at just under 12 million. To put that into perspective: you’d be about as likely to win the lottery as guess the correct combination on your first go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luckily, Wordle uses a dictionary \u2013 its own, in fact \u2013 and there are around 13,000 five-letter words in there. Of these, only around 2,300 are possible Wordle target words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you choose a word that includes more commonly used letters, you give yourself a better chance of learning more about your target word. The mathematical name for this is information entropy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/science-engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2022\/01\/Wordle-laptop-cropped.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHitting the target<\/h2>\n\n\n\n