People can't agree on correct answer to seemingly easy kid's maths question
Think about all those hours of our lives spent sitting in maths lessons right through from primary to GCSE – and further if you could bare it.
You’d think we’d all be math whizzes at this point, but it seems that’s not quite the case.
Sure, I can’t say I’ve ever had to use the ever-so important trigonometry and algebra my year 10 teacher argued would be a ‘vital skill’, but I like to think it’s tucked away in the brain somewhere.
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However, it seems it’s even the most ‘simple’ of maths questions that leave people baffled.
Users over on X have been struggling to wrap their heads round a kids’ exam question.
User @yawdmontweet shared a snap of the multiple-choice piece, writing: “Jah know start diss a hurt mi head.”
And the question really is pretty simple. But if you have even a tiny bit of doubt, it’ll really throw you into a spin.
It asks: “What is the closest time to midnight?” So obviously, you need to know what actual time midnight is.
The answer choices are as follows:
A. 11:55am
B. 12:06am
C. 11:50am
D. 12:03am
The tweet got hundreds of replies as users attempted to answer the children’s maths question.
One wrote: “11:55 AM lol.”
As another put: “The answer is clearly C because we can’t go back in time,” sparking up a whole other debate.
And someone else quipped: “The use of 'to' in this phrasing is confusing sensible ppl. The question coulda write with more precision, imo.”
With this viewpoint, others spiralled: “Without more information it’s hard to choose the answer. We say time in a clockwise manner which would make A the closest if we are talking about the next midnight.
“However, it did not state which midnight this D it closest.”
But if we’re just taking this question in its simplest meaning, the answer very obviously is D – as many, many users got correct.
This is because midnight is at 12am, making D the nearest time with just three minutes.
Users pointed this out: “Lmao how are y’all saying A that’s almost midday.”
Another did put: “Mathematically D is correct. Grammatically A is correct.”
Seems like we’re all getting a bit too involved in the question to be honest, it really is a simple scenario about time – and particularly, the difference between AM and PM.
Let’s not even get people started on that trigonometry and algebra.
Jess Battison