‘Easy’ math question has people stumped as no one can agree on a correct answer

Hello darkness (maths) my old friend.

Seriously though, I can safely say that the quadratic formula has not helped me in life, whatsoever.

OK, little rant over.

So, it seems one 'simple' maths question has yet again stumped a load of grown ups, who can't agree on one answer.

Taking to X (Twitter) one person has single-handedly divided the platform after dropping a tricky maths question.

A content creator who goes by the name 'Enezator', told his 675k followers: "Those who know the answer, write."

The 'Math Test' question, which has 1.4 million views, shows you that 9=90, 8=72, 7=56 and 6=42, asking what 3 equals.

X/@Enezator

Some thought the answer was 18, as one person explained: "3 = 18 Because… 9 × 10 = 90, 8 × 9 = 72, 7 × 8 = 56, 6 × 7 = 42, Sooooo 3 × 6 = 18."

Seems legit.

Although others thought the answer was 12, as another person tweeted: "12 is the answer. Reason: 9 x 10 = 90 8 x 9 = 72 (??? x (??? + 1) ... So, 3 x (3 + 1) = 3 x 4 = 12."

According to Enezator, 12 is the correct answer, but clearly no one in the comments could agree.

Tag us on X with the hastag #ladbible if you think you know the answer, and make sure you give your reasoning.

I shall not and will not embarrass myself further by trying to answer.

You can't lose if you don't try.

Pexels

Well, this comes after a child's exam question left grown-ups seriously itching their heads.

A Grade 5 (which is equivalent to Year 6 in the UK) maths question recently shared on Reddit has left adults confused as it asks students to figure out how many pages are in a book.

“Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and one eighth of the book on Tuesday,” the question read.

“He completed the remaining quarter of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are there in the book?”

Many were utterly baffled by the question, with one person commenting: “And now we can all see why Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? worked as a game show.”

Reddit

Another added: “Today I learned I would fail fifth grade math.”

While a third person ranted: “I always think to my self ‘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 LOL!”

Notably, not everyone thought the question was that difficult - I was not one of these people.

“Not to be rude, but what is interesting about this,” one said.

“It looks just like any other math problem that I’ve done in 5th grade.”

It seems to have taken a person with a PhD in engineering, with a focus on applied mathematics, to answer the dreaded question.

They assumed that if Klein started the book on Monday, you divide 30 pages by five to see how much one eighth is worth, with the answer being six.

You then do eight times six which equals 48 - and this is the correct answer.