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Put your maths skills to the test: Can you solve this 10-year-old's homework?
We don't all enjoy maths, but thinking flexibly and solving maths problems can help keep our cognitive skills sharp and our brains healthy. To give you a bit of maths practice, we've challenged you to solve a 10-year-old's homework!
Anna Botting, an English news presenter with Sky News (a broadcasting network based in the United Kingdom), was having a bit of trouble trying to figure out her daughter's math homework, so she decided to turn to her legions of followers on Twitter for help.
Her post quickly went viral, and within a few moments, hundreds of people had weighed in to try and solve the question.
Are YOU sharp enough to solve this mind-bending maths problem? Put on your thinking cap and give it a shot — and good luck! (Note: Because Anna is from the UK, the problem features pounds instead of dollars).
Here's the question: At the beginning of the day, Hasim counted his money. He gave his brother 1/3 of his money. He spent £12 on a present for his sister. He then counted what he had left, and it was half what he had at the beginning of the day. How much money did he give his brother? Show your method.
While some argued that it was a tough question for a ten-year-old, others jokingly said that it had them stumped as well and that they'd be up all night trying to solve the problem.
Other users also admitted that they had misread the question and may have given out the wrong answer in response.
'My problem was not the maths but reading the question!! I worked out what he had at the start of the day, not what he had given his brother...' said another user.
To add to the humour, another user also took a jab at the 'unfair' distribution of money in the question.
'The real answer is, why is the sister only ending up with half of what the brothers get? Your 10-year-old child is just being shown yet another example of gender bias,' one man joked in the comments.
Several users admitted that they were left scratching their heads at the difficult question - how about you, members? Try to use your problem-solving skills to find the answer before you scroll down for the solution!
After a whole day of mystery and problem-solving, Anna circled back to her tweet and finally gave the correct solution to the problem.
'Thanks to all those who've attempted this!' she said.
According to her daughter's teacher, the correct answer is £24. In the photo that follows, you can see how they arrived at the answer.
So, did you get it right, members? Let us know in the comments. As always, please feel free to visit the SDC website's Brain Teaser forum for more problem-solving exercises. Have fun!