Dad baffled by challenging maths problem in nine-year-old son's homework
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People have been left scratching their heads over a children's homework question that 'makes zero sense'. The maths problem has sparked a debate on social media as adults try to figure out the answer, with many claiming it's too challenging for nine-year-olds.
Sharing the question on Reddit, he said: "My nine-year-old was given this math problem. I can't even solve it. My son is quite gifted with numbers but I thought this problem was pretty advanced for a nine-year-old, right? I tried to solve it (I'm no math geek) but I'm having some trouble. Any thoughts?".
The problem reads: "In a number pyramid, each number in the middle and top rows is the sum of the two numbers below it. Below is an example." The question then presents another number pyramid with three missing values - and asks the students to work out what numbers belong in the missing spaces.
With that, social media users set to work trying to figure out the corrects answer - but not everybody was successful. One user said: "If I were a nine-year-old, I'd use trial an error which is almost certainly the wrong way of solving this. "To be fair as a 40+ dad I'd still use trial and error. I and it wouldn't matter what method I'd use as long as I got to the right answer..." Another user added: "Am I the only one who went "It can't be C D or E, because it can't be greater than 40"? I realise that doesn't solve it.".
A third user said: "Took me about 10 seconds. I’m no 'math geek' either. It is pretty advanced for a nine-year-old but only conceptually." One more user added: "That is not a question for a nine-year-old. We did stuff like that between 8 and 10th grade. It is doable, but I don't think this should be asked of a nine-year-old." Another user said: "Actually is pretty simple, I used to play a lot of these games at his age, in a magazine called logic. You don't need to over complicate things with algebra.".
