Mathdle uses Wordle's exact colour-feedback system but replaces letters with digits and operators. Green for "right character, right spot", yellow for "right character, wrong spot", grey for "not in the equation". Your job is to identify the hidden equation in six tries. Half of what works in word Wordle works here; the other half is replaced by arithmetic-specific intuition.
Your first guess should sample as many different operators as possible. For an 8-character Mathdle, "5+3*2=11" is excellent: it includes +, *, =, and four different digits. After one guess you know which operators are even in play.
Avoid: a first guess like "1+1=2" with one operator and minimal digit variety. You'll spend two more guesses recovering the information you skipped.
For each length, = lives in a small set of positions. In a 5-character round (2+3=5) it's at position 4. In 6-character (12-3=9 or 5+4=9) it's at 4 or 5. In 8-character it's usually at 5 or 6. The = symbol can only come up green or grey — never yellow, since there's only one in any equation. Lock the = position on guess one or two and the search space shrinks dramatically.
Mathdle uses standard precedence without parentheses: multiplication and division before addition and subtraction. So "2+3*4" equals 14, not 20. Check your guesses against this rule before submitting; otherwise you'll get an "invalid equation" error and lose a turn.
Negative intermediate values are fine. "10-3*2=4" is valid (10-6=4). "3-5+10=8" works (-2+10=8). What's not allowed is an equation where the final result is negative, or where a sub-step requires non-integer division.
"03+5=8" is rejected. Multi-digit numbers can't start with 0. Single-digit zero is fine: "0+5=5" is valid. In 8-character and longer rounds this rule cuts the candidate space noticeably.
"10/3" is invalid in Mathdle because it doesn't divide cleanly. "12/4=3" is valid. Before placing the division operator anywhere in a guess, mentally check divisibility. Otherwise you've burned a turn on something that won't even be evaluated.
Mathdle ships six difficulty levels matching character length. 5-character (2+3=5) is the easiest; the search space is tiny and many players solve in two or three guesses. 10-character (99*99=9801, 12+345=357) requires real arithmetic reflex with three-digit results and multi-digit operators interacting under precedence rules. Start at 5 and climb only as your sense of operator placement settles.
Mathdle invalidates roughly half of word-Wordle intuition. Letter frequency doesn't apply; digit frequency is irrelevant. What does apply is a sharp early decision on which operators are involved and where the = sign sits. Get those two facts in the first two guesses and the rest is convergence.