Math problem leaves the internet scratching their heads

**A Math Problem Leaves the Internet Scratching Their Heads**

It starts innocently enough.

Someone posts a math problem online—usually with a caption like *“Only geniuses can solve this”* or *“What’s the correct answer?”* Within minutes, the comments section explodes. Hundreds, then thousands of people confidently declare different answers. Arguments break out. Old grudges are resurrected. Someone brings up PEMDAS. Someone else says PEMDAS is the problem. A third person claims schools don’t teach math correctly anymore. And just like that, a simple string of numbers and symbols has turned into a full-blown internet event.

This is the anatomy of a viral math problem: deceptively simple, emotionally charged, and perfectly engineered to divide the crowd.

The problem itself is usually nothing fancy. No calculus. No advanced proofs. Just basic arithmetic—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. The kind of math most people haven’t formally thought about since middle school. And that’s precisely why it works. It feels accessible. It feels familiar. It feels like something everyone *should* be able to solve.

Which makes it all the more infuriating when no one can agree on the answer.

At first glance, the problem seems straightforward. You read it quickly, do the math in your head, and land on an answer that feels obviously correct. So obviously correct, in fact, that seeing a different answer in the comments feels almost insulting. How could anyone get *that*?

That’s when the real fun begins.

People don’t just disagree—they *double down*. Screenshots of calculators appear. Long explanations follow, each one insisting that their interpretation is the only logical one. Others accuse the problem itself of being poorly written. A few declare that math is fake. Someone inevitably says, “This is why I hate math.”
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