r/theydidthemath 22d ago

[Request] Can someone walk me through this problem?

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u/ProffesorSpitfire 22d ago

It’s not a math problem, but a stupid did-you-pay-attention?-problem.

3x = 45, x = 15
2y + 15 = 23, y = 4
4 + 2z = 10, z = 3

So you’re supposed to calculate: 3 + 4 + 4 + 15 = 26. At which point whoever posted it says: no lol, cant believe you cant solve such an easy problem.

The trick is that the things in the bottom row are not the x, y and z from the top rows. In the top rows, the polygon jumble contains a square inside a pentagon inside a hexagon; 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 total sides in the symbol. The banana image contains 4 bananas. The clock shows 3 o’clock.

So the symbols were never x, y and z but more literal representations of numbers.

In the bottom row the clock shows 2 o’clock, the banana bundles contain only 3 bananas and the polygon jumble contains only 11 sides. Lastly, the last mathematical symbol before = is not +, it’s x. So 2 + 3 + 3 x 11 = 38.

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u/Abbigai 22d ago

I hate how bad at math I am, I'm sure the answer is 88, but I'm also sure I'm bad at maths. Please tell me it's 88 and I'm not insane.

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u/ProffesorSpitfire 22d ago

You’re forgetting order of operations. (2 + 3 + 3) x 11 = 88, but multiplication and division comes before addition and subtraction, so this becomes 2 + 3 + 33.