20 Grade-School Math Questions So Hard You'll Wonder How You Graduated
Author: BestLife
Greenwald, Morgan. “20 Tricky But Fun Grade-School Math Questions - Hard Math Problems.” Best Life, 20 Aug. 2019, bestlifeonline.com/tricky-math-questions/.
SERIOUSLY, WHO CAN DO THESE?!
1. Question: What is the number of the parking space covered by the car?
2. Question: Replace the question mark in the above problem with the appropriate number.
This problem shouldn’t be too difficult to solve if you play a lot of sudoku.
3. Question: Find the equivalent number.
This problem comes straight from a standardized test given in New York in 2014.
4. Question: How many small dogs are signed up to compete in the dog show?
This question comes directly from a second grader’s math homework. Yikes.
5. Question: Find the area of the red triangle.
This question was used in China to identify gifted 5th graders. Supposedly, some of the smart students were able to solve this in less than one minute.
6. Question: How tall is the table?
YouTuber MindYourDecisions adapted this mind-boggling math question from a similar one found on an elementary school student’s homework in China.
7. Question: If the cost of a bat and a baseball combined is $1.10 and the bat costs 41.00 more than the ball, how much is the ball?
This problem, mathematically speaking, is very similar to one of the other ones on this list.
8. Question: When is Cheryl’s birthday?
If you’re having trouble reading that, see here:
“Albert and Bernard just became friends with Cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is. Cheryl gives them a list of 10 possible dates.
May 15 May 16 May 19
June 17 June 18
July 14 July 16
August 14 August 15 August 17
Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.
Albert: I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know that Bernard doesn’t not know too.
Bernard: At first I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know now.
Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl’s birthday is.
So when is Cheryl’s birthday?”
It’s unclear why Cheryl couldn’t just tell both Albert and Bernard the month and day she was born, but that’s irrelevant to solving this problem.
9. Question: Find the missing letter.
This one comes from a first grader’s homework.
10. Question: Solve the equation.
This problem might look easy, but a surprising number of adults are unable to solve it correctly.
11. Question: Where should a line be drawn to make the below equation accurate?
5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 555.
12. Question: Solve the unfinished equation.
Try to figure out what all of the equations have in common.
13. Question: How many triangles are in the image above?
When Best Life first wrote about this deceiving question, we had to ask a mathematician to explain the answer!
14. Question: Add 8.563 and 4.8292.
Adding two decimals together is easier than it looks.
15. Question: There is a patch of lily pads on a lake. Every day, the patch doubles in size…
… If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
16. Question: How many feet are in a mile?
This elementary school-level problem is a little less problem solving and a little more memorization.
17. Question: What value of “x” makes the equation below true?
-15 + (-5x) = 0
18. Question: What is 1.92 divided by 3?
You might need to ask your kids for help on this one.
19. Question: Solve the math equation above.
Don’t forget about PEMDAS!
20. Question: How many zombies are there?
Finding the answer to this final question will require using fractions.
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These questions seem amusing to me and could make mathematics interesting and simple for many beginner students. I wanted to print this for myself, but for some reason, I don’t see any attached photos. Maybe it’s some kind of website error. My son has just started math in school, and he often asks for help. However, I’m not very good at it myself, so I use help with maths assignment when I don’t fully understand an assignment, and they’re really good at explaining complicated topics. But, in general, I would like to avoid relying on external help and become a bit more independent. I think I’ll try to find these questions somewhere else.
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