When you were in grade school, how good were you at math? I know I struggled with it. However, now as an adult, I feel confident I can tackle a kid’s math problem. But this particular problem is causing quite a stir online, leading to heated debates in offices and dinner tables worldwide over the correct answer.
Can You Solve the Kid’s Math Problem That’s Driving the Internet Crazy?
Apparently, discussions about the correct answer to this problem have become so intense that some offices have reached out to mathematicians to settle the debate.
A Kid’s Math Problem and a Hotly Debated Answer
Some people claim the answer is 16, while others say it’s 1. But how could a math problem have two correct answers? Isn’t math supposed to be straightforward, with clear right and wrong answers?
The confusion arises from the order of operations, which you might remember from grade school.
Why People Are Getting Two Different Answers for This Kid’s Math Problem
The key to solving this problem lies in understanding the order of operations. In many places, children learn the acronym PEMDAS or BEDMAS to remember the sequence:
- P/B – Parentheses/Brackets
- E – Exponents
- M/D – Multiplication/Division (whichever comes first from left to right)
- A/S – Addition/Subtraction (whichever comes first from left to right)
Whether you use PEMDAS or BEDMAS, the correct answer is, and always will be, 16. Here’s why:
Here’s Why
The crucial part is that the M and D in the acronym stand for multiplication or division, to be done in the order they appear from left to right.
- First, solve inside the brackets: (2 + 2) = 4.
- Now the equation is 8 ÷ 2(4). A number next to a bracket means multiplication, so it becomes 8 ÷ 2 x 4.
- Following the left-to-right rule for multiplication and division:
- 8 ÷ 2 = 4
- 4 x 4 = 16
Thus, the correct answer is 16. If you’re still confused about the order of operations, check out the video below for a detailed explanation.
