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Only 28% of people can answer this viral maths question correctly

Published

5 years ago

January 30, 2018

You’re here for one of two reasons.

You know you’re useless at maths, but you’re thinking ‘everyone’s getting this one wrong, so maybe I can somehow get it right and I’ll feel better about myself for a minute or two’.

Or you think you’re amazing at maths, and you want to get it right to add a satisfying dose of smugness to your day by confirming that you are, as you were pretty certain already, better than everyone else.

This maths problem has been flummoxing the internet after being posted by Which? and then retweeted by Countdown’s (a famous British series for all those wondering, quite good actually. You should watch it) very own number guru Rachel Riley.

So, without further ado, can you get it right?

Got it right? Good for you?

Got it wrong? Don’t fear, you’re far from alone.

Now time to put your maths skills to the test…

Can you solve this problem that’s been stumping people across the internet?

7+7÷7+7 x 7-7=?

What’s your answer? ↓

— Which? (@WhichUK) January 26, 2018

As we hit publish, an overwhelming majority of people have plumped for the fourth answer, ‘56’, which is very utterly and totally and completely wrong.

And if you did pick ‘56’, Rachel is here to point towards the reason for your error:

Quick bit of BODMAS (BIDMAS/PEDMAS/combinations of) anyone? Same rule for all those internet maths Qs which get people arguing (when they shouldn’t be!) https://t.co/dhkLFVaphg

— Rachel Riley (@RachelRileyRR) January 29, 2018

And what is BODMAS?

It’s an acronym which describes the order in which you perform mathematical operations – it stands for Brackets, Orders (also known as powers), Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction.

Operations of the same level (multiplication and division, or addition and subtraction), you simply work from left to right.

So if you see a problem like this, follow the rules. There are no brackets or orders, so we begin with multiplication/division:

7 + 7 ÷ 7 + 7 x 7 – 7 = ?

7 + (7 ÷ 7) + (7 x 7) – 7 = ?

7 + 1 + 49 – 7 = ?

Then we perform addition/subtraction, going left to right:

(7 + 1) + 49 – 7 = ?

(8 + 49) – 7 = ?

57 – 7 = 50

Got it? Great, let’s try another one:

And here’s how it’s done:

25 – 48 ÷ 6 + 12 × 2 = ?