5th-grade student’s exam question has left adults stumped - ITT: Kiwis MATI because they can't Math

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One sibling has been left scratching their head at their younger brother’s Year 5 math exam.

The question, shared to Reddit, asks students to figure out how many pages are in a book.

“Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and one eighth of the book on Tuesday,” the question read.

“He completed the remaining quarter of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are there in the book?”

Some social media users were immediately stumped by the question.
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One person commented: “And now we can all see why “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” worked as a game show.”

“Today I learned I would fail fifth grade math,” another said on the thread.

One passionate person said: “I always think to my self; ‘Ugh. People should really be tested with basic skills before they’re allowed to go out into society.”

“And then I see this and realize I shouldn’t go out into society LOL!”

Not everyone agreed the question difficult.

“Not to be rude, but what is interesting about this,” one said.

“It looks just like any other math problem that I’ve done in 5th grade.”

Someone with a PhD in engineering, with a focus on applied mathematics, said it wasn’t difficult to work out but it came with the assumption that Klein started the book on Monday.

Once you have that, you divide 30 pages by five to see how much one eighth is worth, with the answer being six.

Math lovers then just do the simple multiplication of eight times six, with the answer being 48, and the equation is solved.

Really hate how math illiterate our society is. This problem is a basic equation

30+x/8+×/4=x

where x is the #of pages read, and the 3 counts they give you have to add up to x.

we multiply by 8 to make our lives easier

240+x+2x=8x

then we bring the xs to one side
240 = 8x-x-2x
add the xs
240= 5x
then divide by 5
48=x

I hate people who suck at math
 
I just added an unnecessary step by converting the fractions to decimals. Not really smart. I just couldn't remember how to deal with fractions.
Well that's deja vu.

I don't remember the problem because it was so long ago, but a teacher once asked me a problem involving decimals before we were taught how to use them. Specifically she asked me how would I solve it (she didn't ask what the answer was). I don't remember the problem or my answer, but I suspect I said to convert everything into a fraction over 100 like a dumbass.

She accepted that answer because although it was clear I didn't know how to work with the numbers I was given, I showed I kind of knew what the numbers meant and how to manipulate them, I just needed to learn the shortcuts later.

So, still smart. Not schooled smart, but problem solver smart. Which is a harder kind of smart to instill in people.
 
I don't remember the problem because it was so long ago, but a teacher once asked me a problem involving decimals before we were taught how to use them. Specifically she asked me how would I solve it (she didn't ask what the answer was). I don't remember the problem or my answer, but I suspect I said to convert everything into a fraction over 100 like a dumbass.
Fractions are basically unsolved decimals.

I didn't give up, so I'm patting myself on the back.
 
Well that's deja vu.

I don't remember the problem because it was so long ago, but a teacher once asked me a problem involving decimals before we were taught how to use them. Specifically she asked me how would I solve it (she didn't ask what the answer was). I don't remember the problem or my answer, but I suspect I said to convert everything into a fraction over 100 like a dumbass.

She accepted that answer because although it was clear I didn't know how to work with the numbers I was given, I showed I kind of knew what the numbers meant and how to manipulate them, I just needed to learn the shortcuts later.

So, still smart. Not schooled smart, but problem solver smart. Which is a harder kind of smart to instill in people.
as a little shit, i got out of having to do long division by just inserting the answer options into the equation and seeing if they'd work
am i a genius?
 
When I saw this, I knew it was a fractions question, common denominator type thing. Which I remember doing in grade 5/6 time frame, but that was a along time ago. I am enjoying the reddit retardation, as well as the seething over metric to imperial conversions.
 
as a little shit, i got out of having to do long division by just inserting the answer options into the equation and seeing if they'd work
am i a genius?
In the real world that's the first few attempts is just fuckin guess and check if by a miracle you got it right. If the lazy attempt fails that's when you drag out the logical reasoning skills.
 
How are people this fucking dumb that my GED having ass understands how to do that problem, both with fractions AND by converting the fractions to decimals, and these people can't?

For fuck's sake, I was public school educated before fucking computers were common in schools and you still went to typing class.
 
as a little shit, i got out of having to do long division by just inserting the answer options into the equation and seeing if they'd work
am i a genius?
If you put in random / sequential numbers, no. If you had some kind of rationale behind your choices and recalibrated your guesses accordingly... I wouldn't call that genius, but I would say there's still some kind of smart (especially depending on how many steps were involved before you got to the answer).

I'd say the most important skill you showed there is you won't just give up. And if you didn't fail the test from testing too many numbers and running out of time to finish, you're good at prioritizing things.
 
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If you put in random / sequential numbers, no. If you had some kind of rationale behind your choices and recalibrated your guesses accordingly... I wouldn't call that genius, but I would say there's still some kind of smart (especially depending on how many steps were involved before you got to the answer).

I'd say the most important skill you showed there is you won't just give up. And if you didn't fail the test from testing too many numbers and running out of time to finish, you're good at prioritizing things.
I just hated long division. Always checking, always wondering if that fucking remainder is supposed to be there, and the knowledge I'd probably never do division that much ever again compared to addition, subtraction, and multiplication. So hey, they gave me multiple choice answers to work with.
 
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Did some brief research.

u/Hrmerder is an anti-capitalist coom brain gamer. u/dead_ed is a 50+ year old gay incel techie from San Fransisco. u/Twitterban is a degenerate weed addict who thinks conservatives are literally Nazis.

All of these people can’t solve a 5th grade math question. These are the people behind #dropkiwifarms or are the ones shit talking the site on Reddit. If you don’t give a shit about what the crackheads located under the bridge near you think about you, then please do not give a shit about what the average redditor thinks about you
 
I had to write down the equation because I can't juggle it all in my head at once, but I got the right answer.

Maybe I'm retarded and was never diagnosed.
I was being a little hyperbolic obviously, some people aren't great at juggling more than 2 or 3 numbers around in their head at once. What matters is you aren't a subhuman redditor whining about how elementary school math is racist or oppressive or whatever.
 
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Did some brief research.

u/Hrmerder is an anti-capitalist coom brain gamer. u/dead_ed is a 50+ year old gay incel techie from San Fransisco. u/Twitterban is a degenerate weed addict who thinks conservatives are literally Nazis.

All of these people can’t solve a 5th grade math question. These are the people behind #dropkiwifarms or are the ones shit talking the site on Reddit.
my favorite thing about some redditors acting like they're above reddit or other places is going through their profile and figuring out they're some kind of addict, degenerate, or raving asshole
 
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