Look Smart. Photo: RichVintage (Getty).
Look, I didn’t get through years of schooling just so that when I became an adult, I would have to do math problems. Why else do you think I write on the internet about sneakers and monster trucks? Short answer: they don’t involve crunching my brain with fractions.
But then things like this happen — a math problem somehow goes viral on the internet and baffles everyone (including me) and I’ll never get away from this wretched subject.
Third Grader’s Math Problem Baffles Even Adults
I’m a smart adult, I swear. But this math problem meant to be solved by 8-year-olds has me scratching my head and questioning every year I sat through public school.
A mother — obviously a woman just as confused as the rest of us — uploaded this image to the world wide web and captioned it, “This 3rd grade math problem…”
The question reads, “Janell has 15 marbles. She lost some of them. How many does Janell have now?”
What the what? Is there a correct answer for this that’s not an algebraic equation? And if it’s algebra, why are you putting it on a third grader, educators? Soulless a-holes.
Well, the problem hit Reddit and got a ton of upvotes, leaving a bunch of people wondering who the hell wrote this problem as they tried to figure out the answer. Some mathematicians gave their takes, including one who said the answer is “x-15,” and another who wrote “< 15.” These answers may very well be right, but don’t count on me to verify. I’m still in a place where my answers to math problems look something like this…
h/t UNILAD
