Anyone up for solving this puzzle?

[summeriscomingsoon]

A gold star for a correct answer



No actually 28.

Cookies have raisins (or chocolate chips) on them telling you how much they’re worth. Last cookie has 7 raisins. Clock points at the time indicating it’s worth. Last clock points at 2. 1 banana is worth 1 banana.

So: 2+1+1 = 4 x 7 = 28

Stay at home mum at mo but a primary school teacher before children. Why?

Obviously a silly question, where 10 is a possible answer.

You could just as easily say that it is 13.5 because cookies with only 7 chocolate chips get a 50% discount. And I certainly haven't seen a shop which charges different prices for clocks depending on the time they show!

@CatsHairEverywhere

No actually 28.

Cookies have raisins (or chocolate chips) on them telling you how much they’re worth. Last cookie has 7 raisins. Clock points at the time indicating it’s worth. Last clock points at 2. 1 banana is worth 1 banana.

So: 2+1+1 = 4 x 7 = 28

BODMAS

oops, just saw there is one banana instead of two in the last sum.

It is 14

You can't expect anyone to get the "right" answer without clarifying certain assumptions.

FIRST EQUATION --> a cookie with 10 visible chips is worth 10

SECOND EQUATION -> a pair of bananas is worth 2. Let's assume this implies a single banana is worth 1

THIRD EQUATION -> a clock showing three o'clock is worth 3.

FOURTH EQUATION ->

no reason why a clock saying two o'clock should not also be worth 3, but if it's defective (because it doesn't agree with the other two clocks), perhaps it's worth nothing?

what is a cookie with 7 visible chips worth? If the biscuit part is worth nothing, then perhaps it's only the value of the chips, so 7, but other assumptions would be reasonable

what convention is being used for a + b + c x d? is it basic left to right, so add a, b, c then multiply by d, or are we using algebraic notation (where "BIDMAS" would apply), so a and b added to the product of c and d.

So, maybe the answer is:

2 + 1 + (1x7) = 10

but other answers could be justified.

28

[quote Bessica1970]@HowManyToes
Can you explain to a maths phobic person ‘why’ we do bodmas?

Why does the calculation work in that direction but not the others?[/quote]
If we didn’t then one calculation would have multiple answers - carnage! It’s actually based in algebra but boils down to the ‘hierarchy’ of calculations - multiplication is just repeated addition and powers (indices/orders) are just repeated multiplications.

You can model it in real life which is useful when teaching. If you open your purse and take out a £2 coin then three tenners you can write this as 2 + 3 x10. If you’re trying to work out how much money you have you wouldn’t add the 2 and the 3 then multiply by 10. You’d multiply the tenners first then add the 2.

There are lots of good explanations online - it’s come up often on r/askmath and r/ask science but the explanations tend to be very technical.

It’s 10.
Clock is 2. Banana is 1. Cookie is 7.
2 + 1 + (1 x7) Equals 10.

12

@CKBJ

Stay at home mum at mo but a primary school teacher before children. Why?

You sound lovely but your maths are a bit

70

@ShipOfTheseus

It’s 10. Clock is 2. Banana is 1. Cookie is 7. 2 + 1 + (1 x7) Equals 10.

Correct.

70

10

Or 14 if we're doing BIDMAS

You don’t “do” bidmas. Bidmas just is.

10

I see, if you take the raisins and clock face into account, it is:

2+1+1x7 = 10

This is BODMAS

The answer is 28 only if it is (2+1+1) x 7. But it is not. There are no brackets in front of the first 3 numbers.

Oops just saw the clock is on 2 so 10

Actually, my new answer:

Cookie with 10 chips is 10. Cookies with 7 chips are at a 10% doscount.
Banana is 1 each. Won't argue there.
Clocks are 3, but this clock is broken so is being sold at a 50% discount.

11.5
Final answer.
Yes, I've always been an awkward sod.

If you wanted a definition of mansplaining ...

Cookie is 7

How is the cookie 7?

9

13

17