Can you solve this challenging maths question?
- Replies 39
Do you fancy testing your maths skills, members?
Well, you’re in luck! You've got quite a challenge ahead with a tricky question that’s left grown-ups everywhere scratching their heads.
This one is causing quite a stir! In fact, it’s left adults feeling frustrated. Can you figure out the answer?
This seemingly simple maths question intended for the bright minds of ten to eleven-year-old students is completely flummoxing adults across the globe.
Discovered on an online forum, this puzzler has sparked manyf attempts to solve it, with nearly 10,000 comments offering answers, advice, and some hilariously desperate pleas for help.
Here's the big question for you mathematics sleuths out there:
'Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and 1/8 of the book on Tuesday. He completed the remaining 1/4 of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are there in the book?'
Go on, if you have a head for maths, we encourage you solving this! If not, read on!
After a glance at the comments, it appeared some people never made past seeing the question.
‘5th grade me would not get this. Mid-40s me barely gets it,’ one person admitted.
‘I don't get it at all, even with explanations, and I'm 30. I've always been bad at math,’ another wrote.
A third person commented, ‘I always think to myself: "Ugh. People should really be tested with basic skills before they're allowed to go out into society." And then I see this and realise I shouldn't go out into society.’
Some bypassed the headache entirely and blamed the question itself, albeit in a cheeky manner. One commenter pointed out: ‘Why didn’t Klein just read the remaining 18 pages on Monday? Klein is lazy.’
‘Elementary school teachers should retake English Writing 101. Based on all the comments, the question should have been worded unambiguously,’ another person said.
And, of course, some provided the correct answer to the question. Before reading ahead, were you able to come up with an answer?
The smart cookies who did succeed in unravelling the riddle explained that the key was understanding the 'units' and breaking down the problem step-by-step. A consensus revealed the answer to the tricky question: a total of 48 pages.
One person broke it down stepwise and showed how understanding fractions was crucial to cracking the code:
Many agreed with the logic, with one like-minded commenter saying, 'Yeah, exactly. My mental process was he read the last 1/4 on Wednesday, so he must’ve read 3/4, which is 6/8 in the previous days. But he only read 1/8 on Tuesday. So he must’ve read the other 5/8 on Monday.’
‘We’re told he read 30 pages on Monday. We know he read 5/8 of the book on Monday. So 30 pages = 5/8 of the book. So 30 pages divided by five is six pages. So a unit of six pages is 1/8 of the book.’
‘The book, therefore, is eight units of six pages, which equals eight multiplied by six = 48 pages long.’
However, other social media users didn’t understand why so many others were challenged, with one commenting: ‘Isn't this just a normal maths problem?’
‘Education…needs to be improved if this is an issue for people,’ another pointed out.
‘I find it surprising that so many people are struggling with this. You just convert 1/4 to 2/8, and then the answer is pretty straightforward,’ another person wrote.
What do you think of the story, members? Did you solve the tricky question? Share them in the comments below!
Well, you’re in luck! You've got quite a challenge ahead with a tricky question that’s left grown-ups everywhere scratching their heads.
This one is causing quite a stir! In fact, it’s left adults feeling frustrated. Can you figure out the answer?
This seemingly simple maths question intended for the bright minds of ten to eleven-year-old students is completely flummoxing adults across the globe.
Discovered on an online forum, this puzzler has sparked manyf attempts to solve it, with nearly 10,000 comments offering answers, advice, and some hilariously desperate pleas for help.
Here's the big question for you mathematics sleuths out there:
'Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and 1/8 of the book on Tuesday. He completed the remaining 1/4 of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are there in the book?'
A person shared a tricky maths problem online, leaving some commenters stumped. Credit: Reddit
Go on, if you have a head for maths, we encourage you solving this! If not, read on!
After a glance at the comments, it appeared some people never made past seeing the question.
‘5th grade me would not get this. Mid-40s me barely gets it,’ one person admitted.
‘I don't get it at all, even with explanations, and I'm 30. I've always been bad at math,’ another wrote.
A third person commented, ‘I always think to myself: "Ugh. People should really be tested with basic skills before they're allowed to go out into society." And then I see this and realise I shouldn't go out into society.’
Some bypassed the headache entirely and blamed the question itself, albeit in a cheeky manner. One commenter pointed out: ‘Why didn’t Klein just read the remaining 18 pages on Monday? Klein is lazy.’
‘Elementary school teachers should retake English Writing 101. Based on all the comments, the question should have been worded unambiguously,’ another person said.
And, of course, some provided the correct answer to the question. Before reading ahead, were you able to come up with an answer?
The smart cookies who did succeed in unravelling the riddle explained that the key was understanding the 'units' and breaking down the problem step-by-step. A consensus revealed the answer to the tricky question: a total of 48 pages.
One person broke it down stepwise and showed how understanding fractions was crucial to cracking the code:
Many agreed with the logic, with one like-minded commenter saying, 'Yeah, exactly. My mental process was he read the last 1/4 on Wednesday, so he must’ve read 3/4, which is 6/8 in the previous days. But he only read 1/8 on Tuesday. So he must’ve read the other 5/8 on Monday.’
‘We’re told he read 30 pages on Monday. We know he read 5/8 of the book on Monday. So 30 pages = 5/8 of the book. So 30 pages divided by five is six pages. So a unit of six pages is 1/8 of the book.’
‘The book, therefore, is eight units of six pages, which equals eight multiplied by six = 48 pages long.’
However, other social media users didn’t understand why so many others were challenged, with one commenting: ‘Isn't this just a normal maths problem?’
‘Education…needs to be improved if this is an issue for people,’ another pointed out.
‘I find it surprising that so many people are struggling with this. You just convert 1/4 to 2/8, and then the answer is pretty straightforward,’ another person wrote.
What do you think of the story, members? Did you solve the tricky question? Share them in the comments below!
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