There appeared in “Nouvelles Annales de Mathematiques” the following puzzle as a modification of any of my “Canterbury Puzzles.” Arrange the nine digits in three groups of two, three, and four digits, so that the first two numbers when multiplied together make the third. Thus, 12 * 483 = 5,796. I now also propose to include the cases where there are one, four and four digits, such as 4 * 1,738 = 6,952. Can you find all possible solutions in both cases?”- Amusement in Mathematics, by Ernest Dudeney.
Now we want to arrange some of the nine digits (without ‘0’) in three groups of a, b and c digits, so that the first two numbers when multiplied together make the third. In addition, no digit can be used more than once in a single multiplication. You have to find how many solution exist there for given a, b and c.