Jade Small
Jade Small
September 27, 2021 ·  3 min read

Only 10% Of People Can Solve This Mystery…Can You?

Are you familiar with those brain teasers that leave you thinking about them all day? Even after you’ve solved them, they linger on your mind, making you wonder. Well, today we are happy to announce that we have exactly that kind of math riddle for you to solve. It’s quite a difficult one for most people. So, if you solve this mystery today, you can be sure you’re one smart cookie!

There are several reasons why you should be doing math riddles like this every single day. Solving brain teasers is one of the best things you can do for your brain. Plus, these don’t take much time out of your day! So, you can get a fun brain workout done every single day, in under 30 minutes, and benefit in many ways. According to GoodNet, “puzzles invigorate our brains, but they are also very relaxing. While we are concentrating on how to solve the puzzle, our minds are only on one task and that encourages our brains to go into a meditative state. This leads to a better mindset and better stress coping skills.

What’s more, these types of puzzles and riddles can make you smarter! “Since puzzles can improve our memory, concentration, vocabulary, and reasoning skills it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that they also raise our IQs. A study at the University of Michigan showed that doing puzzles for at least 25 minutes a day can boost your IQ by 4 points.

If you’re ready to solve this mystery puzzle and get your brain boosted, scroll down. Let’s see if you can find the correct answer.

Can you Solve This Mystery?

At first glance, this may look like a normal math problem. However, the blank you need to fill-in comes from a very specific pattern. Do you think you’ll be able to solve this mystery in under 1 minute? You may use a calculator if you need it. Grab a pencil, paper, and whatever tools you need to solve this equation. Just remember, no cheating! You need to come up with the missing pattern before you can solve the mystery. Good luck!

solve this mystery puzzle
Can you Solve This Mystery?

The math problem reads:

1 + 4 = 5
2 + 5 = 12
3 + 6 = 21
8 + 11 = ?

To find the solution to this puzzle, you need to take a look at every aspect. Do the equations make sense? Finding the correct answer will take you on a journey of both logic and mathematics. Remember, you only have one minute to find the correct answer.

Are you getting there? You are probably on the right track so far, which is great. There’s not much time left, make the most of it and double-check your work. There’s only one shot to get this right on the first try if you want to call yourself a genius! Will you solve this mystery in time? To see the correct answer and compare your results, scroll down. Hopefully, you got it right!

Solution

According to several sources on the internet, there are two viable solutions to this math riddle. That’s good news for you! It means your chances of having the correct answer have just doubled! Let’s see the first solution and find out if it was what you also got for your answer.

This solution was the most commonly found among those who answered correctly. The missing number is 40. To get that, we would need to realize a pattern within the math problem. If you add each total to the following equation, you will eventually end up with 40.

1 + 4 = 5
5 + 2 + 5 = 12
12 + 3 + 6 = 21
21 + 8 + 11 = 40

The second correct answer to solve this mystery is 96. However, this answer was not commonly found and is a bit trickier. To reach the answer of 96, you would need to multiply the first number in each line by the second number, then add the product to the first number. 

1 + (1 x 4) = 5
2 + ( 2 x 5) = 12
3 + (3 x 6) = 21
8 + (8 x 11) = 96

How did you do with this math riddle? If you found it to be fun and challenging, you should keep going! Try these out and let us know how you do on them: