‘Simple’ Maths Problem Is Bringing The Internet To Its Knees. How Easy Is The Solution?

There seem to be two different types of people in this world, those who are able to do math without really thinking about it and those who have probably struggled with it since grammar school. I seem to fall somewhere in the middle because I love math but there are times when even the simplest of math problems seem to be elusive. It seems as if I am not alone, because there are thousands of people who are trying this simple mathematical problem but the answer is just not forthcoming.

It seems to be a very simple equation and perhaps one that we have done in school many times before. It seems as if it would be simple to move from the left to the right but the majority of people who try this question are going to come up empty-handed. Why not take a moment to see if you can do it and see what type of answer you come up with? You might just find that it is one of the most difficult questions you have ever tried.

6รท2 (1+2) =

Most of the people who try this are going to come up with either 1 or 9. Some of the other common answers include 0, 3 and sometimes, even 6. If you have come up with any of those answers, however, you are probably wrong. The way that people are taught to do math in school, however, often is the reason why they either choose 9 or 1. There’s only one answer that is correct, however, and if you said it was 9, you solved it.

Why is this question so difficult to answer? So many people were confused by it that it has gone viral. A YouTuber named Presh Talwalkar has an explanation. He said that there is both an old and a new way to approach the answer and you will either end up with the answer of 1 (the old way) or 9 (the modern way).

This video gives a more thorough description and an explanation that takes you through the problem step-by-step. But even though he makes it sound easy, there still seems to be some confusion and perhaps even some arguing over it in the comments.

If you didn’t come up with the correct answer, don’t feel too bad. It is inevitable that eventually, we are going to forget some of the basic things that we learned in school. When you consider the fact that most of us don’t do any type of complex math on a regular basis, it’s little wonder that we forget how to do it. In most cases, we use a calculator or we ask Google for the answer.

In the end the, it is really rather interesting how a simple question can start an Internet viral sensation. Even if you consider this to be a simple math problem, things aren’t always as straightforward as we first perceive them to be.

You can see more about the explanation of this ‘simple’ path problem in this video: