What is the solution to this equation involving cats, dogs, and lambs?

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Bad_Boy_Blue
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If cats + dogs = lamb, what does dogs equal?
 
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Please simplify your answers as I'm finding this concept rather difficult to get my head around.
 
Bad_Boy_Blue said:
If cats + dogs = lamb, what does dogs equal?
Surely you just move the cats to the other side of the equals sign. Right?

The Bob (2004 ©)
 
Is this a problem where every letter is assigned a digit? And thus this problem is the sum of two four digit numbers? Or is it something else entirely?

- Warren
 
If it is what chroot is suggesting it is, it looks hard to figure without using a computer. Making a few simple eliminations (O=0 or 9), reduces the number of possibilities to about 10^5 - notice that there are 10 different letters, so all the digits must be used. Hmmm...looks like a toughie.

Are you just making up a generic example off the top of your head, or is this the exact question from a book or homework ? If the former, there may be no solution at all, and even if there are solutions, they may not be paper-and-pencil-able.

Are you allowed to write a program ?
 
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