Fifth-grade math problem leaves the internet very divided

Math was never my strong point, nor was it for most people.

Every person has flashbacks to the anxiety and torment of math class.

But math is all a matter of practice.

It just so happens that most of us don’t bother to practice.

That, and maybe those schools should change their approach to teaching math.

Well, here’s a math problem for you – one that’s got even some grown-ups stumped. It’s all from Reddit.

A test problem on my 5th grade brothers’ math exam.
byu/springwaterh20 inmildlyinteresting

Courtesy of u/springwaterh20, they shared the problem on their 5th grader’s math test.

And if you think, “I’m an adult; I can solve a 5th-grade math test, ” I’d encourage you to give this one a shot.

Pexels - Louis Bauer
Source:

Pexels - Louis Bauer

I’ll admit, it had me stumped too. It goes like this:

“Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and 1/8 of the book on Tuesday. He completed the remaining 1/4 of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are in the book?”

It’s a fraction and algebra problem.

I was never good with fractions, and I’d guess most of you weren’t either.

Pexels - Karolina Grabowska
Source:

Pexels - Karolina Grabowska

The post got over 10,000 comments. Needless to say, it probably wasn’t as easy as we were expecting. Who knew?

In case you’re worried, yes, someone commented the solution. But we’re not going to spoil it just yet. I want you to try and figure it out first.

“And now we can all see why “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” Worked as a gameshow.” said one comment. Yeah, no kidding huh?

Pexels - Kindel Media
Source:

Pexels - Kindel Media

The answer is some slightly involved fractions. Math is just applied logic, as they say.

First, you have to assume that Monday was when he started reading the book. There’s no way to solve the problem otherwise.

Once you have that laid down, you can begin solving.

Pexels - Monstera
Source:

Pexels - Monstera

Before the fractions, you have to get the algebra parts out of the way. That means using X to represent the number of pages in the book.

We’re told that after he read 30 pages, there was 1/8 worth of the book that he read on Tuesday, and then 1/4. You can combine the two fractions to make 3/8. So now we can represent the problem like this: 1 book = 30 + 3/8.

We basically have to figure out what fraction of the book those 30 pages make up. That’s the algebra part.

Well, we can tell now that 30 pages are equivalent to 5/8 of the book. So 1/8 of the book must be 6. So in total, the book must have 48 pages.

Pexels - Yun Krukau
Source:

Pexels - Yun Krukau

If you’d prefer to let one of the Reddit comments break it down, here’s what that looks like.

“It doesn’t need to be that complicated. You could leave it at (5/8)x = 30 and solve.” said u/tjackson87

The top comment, courtesy of u/megadori, broke down the whole thing like this:

“1 book = 30 pages + 1/8 book + 1/4 book
1 book = 30 pages + 3/8 book
1 book – 3/8 book = 30 pages
5/8 book = 30 pages
1 book = 48 pages”

So, did this question stump you too? Or are you a math wiz and figured it out without trouble?

Maybe show this to your friends and see if they can have a crack at it too!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Article Sources:

r/mildlyinteresting on Reddit

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By Luis Gaskell

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Luis Gaskell is a contributor at SBLY Media.