The Viral Math Challenge: Can You Solve It?
This puzzle has gone viral across social media, often appearing over a background of shredded cheese or pasta, adding a touch of domestic mystery to the challenge. The prompt is simple: “Please don’t use a calculator. Use your brain”.
🧩 The Equation
$$50 + 50 – 25 \times 0 + 2 + 2 = ?$$
🛒 The “Ingredients” for the Solution
To solve this correctly, you don’t need fancy equipment—just the Order of Operations. Depending on where you went to school, you likely know this as PEMDAS or BODMAS:
- P/B: Parentheses or Brackets
- E/O: Exponents or Orders
- MD/DM: Multiplication and Division (Left to Right)
- AS: Addition and Subtraction (Left to Right)
👩🍳 Step-by-Step Instructions (The Breakdown)
1. Identify the Priority
Looking at the equation
$$50 + 50 – 25 \times 0 + 2 + 2$$
, the first thing you must address is the multiplication. Many people make the mistake of simply working from left to right, but math rules dictate that multiplication happens before addition and subtraction.
2. Perform the Multiplication
Find the segment
$$- 25 \times 0$$
.
- Anything multiplied by zero equals zero.
- The equation now becomes:$$50 + 50 – 0 + 2 + 2$$
3. Solve the Addition and Subtraction
Now that only addition and subtraction remain, you can work through the numbers from left to right:
- $$50 + 50 = 100$$
- $$100 – 0 = 100$$
- $$100 + 2 = 102$$
- $$102 + 2 = 104$$
💡 Why This Puzzle Works
This puzzle goes viral because it plays on a common “trap.” People who solve it from left to right without following the order of operations often end up with an answer of 4, while others get confused by the
$$-25 \times 0$$
section and assume the entire first half of the equation disappears.
The actual answer, following the strict laws of mathematics, is 104.
📢 What Was Your Result?
Did you get it right on the first try, or did the zero catch you off guard? These puzzles are a great way to keep your mind sharp and remind us of the simple rules we often forget after leaving the classroom.
POST YOUR ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS BELOW! Did you get 104, or did you find a different “creative” solution?
