A seemingly straightforward math problem intended for 8-year-olds has made waves online, leaving many puzzled over its solution.
As someone who has struggled with math in the past, I won’t even try to solve it, but perhaps you can give it a shot.
While you might recall the challenges of school math tests, it appears today’s children face increasingly complex problems, often leaving parents stumped when trying to assist.
When a parent shared a snapshot of their child’s math assignment on Reddit, a debate ensued as numerous individuals attempted to solve it, with the comments reflecting the general bewilderment.
The parent posted on the ‘homework help’ subreddit, saying: “Husband and I feel super stupid and both coming up with different answers. Help?”
The question in concern is: “Sean makes two pizzas. He gives eight people an equal share of the pizza. How much pizza does each person get?”
On the surface, it appears straightforward, yet the comments reveal otherwise.
Almost 1,000 individuals engaged in solving it, with no consensus on the correct answer.
Opinions were divided between ¼ and 1/8, leading to a bit of chaos.
Frustration was also directed at the ambiguous phrasing of the homework, with one user criticizing: “I’m irrationally annoyed that the problem statement says how much pizza vs how much of a pizza because you have to infer that the unit is a single pizza.
“Why are children’s questions written with such vague wording? 1/8 of the total pizza – 1/4 of a single pizza.”
Not having the mental energy to resolve this, let’s delve into some comments.
One person remarked: “It’s a trick question. He gives a pizza to share among 8 people. So they each get an 1/8 and Sean keeps one pizza for himself.”
Another offered: “2 pizzas divided by 8 people is 2/8, or 1/4.
“It might be each person gets a quarter pizza–one big slice each–or they each get two smaller slices that are each an eighth.”
Someone else asserted their correctness, stating: “The only correct answer is 2 slices. Anything else ignores international mandatory uniform measurement units for pizza.”
Ultimately, the answer is ¼ as 2 divided by 8 equals 0.25.
This isn’t the first time math has left people confounded.
Previously, a puzzle circulated online, suggested to have originated from Harvard University.
The challenge posed: “Seven men have seven wives. Each man and each wife have seven children.
“Q: What’s the total number of people?”
Did you solve it?
The problem outlines 14 individuals initially, and each of the seven couples has seven children.
This results in 49 children, adding to the 14 parents, culminating in a total of 63 people.
There you have it.