First, it was The Dress. Then, it was a cat going up — or down — a flight of stairs. Now a math problem is the latest viral phenomenon to stump the Internet.
Kenneth Kong, the host of TV's Hello Singapore, first posted the math problem on his Facebook page April 10. "This question causes a debate with my wife," Kong wrote in the caption to the photo of the question.
This question causes a debate with my wife .... and its a Sec 3 question. #trickquestion#cherylsbirthday
Posted by Kennethjianwen on Friday, April 10, 2015
As things that go viral tend to do, the question soon ended up on Reddit and made the rounds on Twitter with #cherylsbirthday, but of course. Once that happened, it didn't take long for the media to pick up this story, helping to bring this mathematical stumper to the masses.
Kong had originally written that this question was intended for students in "P5," known as "Primary 5" in the Singaporean education system, the equivalent of fifth grade in the United States, according to The Atlantic. That's terrifying, considering that most grown adults probably can't figure out this question. Of course, this made some people feel that if 10-year-olds in Singapore were able to solve a problem like this, the U.S. education system is embarrassingly far behind.
However, the Singaporean news outlet Mothership.sg obtained an official confirmation from the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad, or SASMO, that the question was from a contest held on April 8 for Secondary 3 and 4 students, which are high school-age students. Phew, that's a relief.
All of this is good and well, but it still doesn't make up for the fact that you haven't slept since this math problem came into your life. "When is Cheryl's birthday," you mutter to yourself. WHEN IS CHERYL'S BIRTHDAY? Will we ever know?
Well, take a deep breath and maybe eat a snack to build up your energy, because SASMO has also been kind enough to post the solution to the problem, including how to go about solving it. You can read the full solution below in all its Comic Sans glory. This is the point where you look away if you're still brave enough to try and solve the problem on your own.
Huh. Well, when you put it that way, it seems so simple.
Now on to the next problem: What are you going to get Cheryl for her birthday?
Photo: US Department of Education | Flickr
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