Maths questions for school kids stump parents

They’re designed for primary school students, but even the most intelligent adults have struggled to answer these maths questions. Can you?

Parents have been left scratching their heads over three maths questions intended for primary school students.

The questions were devised by Chris Hogbin, education leader at Australian mathematical software solutions company, 3P Learning, and while they’re aimed at young kids, he tells news.com.au they’ve proved to be a challenge for even the brainiest mums and dads.

“Kids actually do a lot better on these questions than adults,” Mr Hogbin said.

“There’s a lot of intelligent adults who actually struggle with these questions and equations.”

Mr Hogbin said the main reason is because adults have a predetermined method where as kids are not locked in by a particular strategy.

“They solve problems using multiple different strategies and they get it right,” he said.

Want to give it a go? Scroll down for the questions — the answers can be found at the bottom of the page, but no cheating.

1. How many triangles are in this image?

While you may think it looks straightforward, it’s not. The majority of people taking the quiz will be able to spot at least four, but we can confirm there’s plenty more. That’s the only hint we're giving you.

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How many triangles can you see in this image? Picture: 3P Learning

2. What does the fruit add up to?

Mr Hogbin said adults find this one really difficult as they don’t know where to start.

“All the pictures throw them off, where as if they find the value of each fruit first, it makes it a lot easier.”

He said it involves some mental arithmetic.

The answers to the first three equations have been given, which allows you to work backwards to reveal the numeric value of each fruit: apples, bananas and cherries.

It involves four simple addition problems where numbers are represented by types of fruit, with numeric values hidden.

Three apples equal 60, while two bananas plus one cherry equal 20. One apple and two bananas equal 38. Now you do the rest.

This question requires you to work backwards to solve the equation. Picture: 3P Learning

3. 8+2x4÷2

Looks easy enough, but according to Mr Hogbin, the best way to answer this equation is by changing the order in which you solve each part.

Most people will solve it by adding 8 and 2, but the key is to break it down like this —

‘8 + ((2 x 4)÷2)’.

Your answer will be wrong if you mix up the solving order. It’s also why most people get this equation wrong.

If you mix up the equation any other way you will always end up with the incorrect answer.

To get it right, you will need to rejog your memory to the days of BODMAS — remember that theory?

It stands for brackets, order, division, multiplication, addition and subtraction.

If you did worse than you expected, don’t stress - most adults do worse on these questions than kids, Mr Hogbin said.

“Kids have a few advantages with these questions. In the first question, kids are more familiar with the order of operations for mathematical operations,” he said.
“For the next two questions, a creative approach is required. One where you come up with your own strategy. Kids are fantastic at this and they’re natural risk-takers.
“As adults, we tend to try and remember back to class and what method or strategy we were taught to use – some pre-determined rule without necessarily understanding the ‘why’ behind it.”

World Maths Day kicks off May 5 and runs for 48 hours. You can register at www.worldmathsday.com

Now can you see it? Picture: 3P Learning

Originally published as Maths questions for school kids stump parents