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People have been left scratching their heads over Year 5 maths question – but how long does it take you to solve it

ARE you smarter than a 10 year old?

You might want to take a look at this maths question before you answer that, it’s got adults scratching their heads. 

People have been left scratching their heads over Year 5 maths question, can you solve it?
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People have been left scratching their heads over Year 5 maths question, can you solve it?Credit: Reddit

The tricky school question was shared in a Reddit post online. 

Although the query may seem simple at first, people have pointed out it's very easy to get lost down the rabbit hole on your way to the answer. 

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

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

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Now school may seem like a long time ago but have you figured it out yet?

Loads of Reddit users confessed the couldn’t find the solution and were surprised the questions were being set to 10 and 11 year olds.

One user said: “…why didn’t Klein just read the remaining 18 pages on Monday?”

Another confessed: “TIL I would fail fifth grade math.”

"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 realise I shouldn't go out into society LOL,” said third. 

The post racked up 42,000 of upvotes and some people even started bickering over the answer.

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But it looks like some people did pay attention in school. 

One Reddit user finally revealed the correct answer was 48 after providing a helpful breakdown of the workings out. 

They said: “He only read one-eight on Tuesday. So he must've read the other five-eights on Monday. We're told he read 30 pages on Monday.”

“We know he read five-eights of the book on Monday. So 30 pages = five-eights of the book. So how much is an eighth of the book? We know 30 pages is five-eights.

“30 pages divided by five is six pages. So a unit of six pages is one-eights of the book. The book therefore is eight units of six pages = eight times six = 48 pages long."

Another clever clogs broke done the maths in simpler terms. They said:

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  • 1 book = 30 pages + 1/8 book + 1/4 book
  • 1 book = 30 pages + 3/8 book
  • 1 book - 3/8 book = 30 pages
  • 5/8 book = 30 pages
  • 1 book = 48 pages

So would you past this year five maths test question?

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