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Jade Small
Jade Small
January 19, 2024 ·  2 min read

Math Quiz Beaten By Child Geniuses Puts Brain Skills To The Test

Are you ready for one of the trickiest math problems you’ve ever seen? This one problem was considered to be extremely difficult for most adults to pass, and many who attempted it ended up getting the answer wrong. However, a few child geniuses showed the world how to correctly solve the equation. Do you think you could do better than the kids who tried this? Let’s find out!

Child Geniuses Could Solve this Equation, Can You?

The greatest thing about math problems and difficult equations is that there is some logic behind everything. Regardless of what degree of math you are applying to your problem, there will always be a form of logical processing to follow. Now, most of us adults don’t have the same brain elasticity as kids, but that doesn’t mean we can’t challenge a few child geniuses to a math duel!

Take a look at the math equation below and try to find the answer. Remember, this isn’t as easy as it looks. There are always a few tricks when it comes to these types of math problems.

Image Credit: Apost

At first glance, you might think this is going to be incredibly easy to solve, but you’d be wrong. Deceptively simple solutions are what has led to most people getting the answer wrong. Take a minute and think about what you learned a long time ago about math problems like these. We can see the problem reads “4+4+4+4+4-4×0+2” and we need to find the answer.

For many, the initial reaction would be to simply go from left to right, solving the addition and subtraction, and finally the multiplication. This would give you an answer of 2. Unfortunately, that is incorrect.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

If you remember back to grade school, you have probably heard the phrase “order of operations.” Others may have referred to it as PEMDAS (BEDMAS or BODMAS). According to KhanAcademy, “the order of operations is a rule that tells the correct sequence of steps for evaluating a math expression. We can remember the order using PEMDAS: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, and Division (from left to right), Addition and Subtraction (from left to right).”

So, if we were to follow the order of operations, we would come to the same answer as those child geniuses who correctly solved the equation. Let’s take a look at the correct answer!

First, we start with multiplication. Anything multiplied by zero becomes zero. So, we would take the 4×0 first, and replace that part of the equation with zero. That leaves us with 4+4+4+4+4-0+2. Now, if we follow the basics of mathematics, we can finally get our answer of 22. 4+4+4+4+4 = 20. Then, we subtract zero, and add 2. The Answer?

22!

If you liked that brainteaser, we have some more math problems you will love!