This Math Question For 10-Year-Olds Is Baffling Adults Everywhere

A 10-year-old boy brought home his mathematics homework and, stuck on section 6, asked his dad for help. Equally stumped, dad turned to mathematician friends, who couldn’t help either. Can you solve this tricky puzzle?

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“I spent an hour trying to work it out but found it impossible,” said the kid’s father, “I even sent it to a friend who got a first class degree in economics and they were baffled by it as well!”

Now it’s your turn — simply work out the perimeter of the shapes shown below.

How did you get on? Here’s a hint for question one.

Oh alright, have a clue for question two as well.

Clever Twitter users figured out that the answer for both questions is 44cm, although they admit the second question is confusing, as it’s unclear which side the 2cm label is referring to.


But if you assume it’s the smaller vertical side (to the left of the measurement), you can work it out using the formula above.

We’re just thankful we don’t get homework anymore.