Can You Solve This Singaporean High School Math Problem That Has Overtaken The Internet?

Bogey Wells11 years ago

Is the dress black and blue, or white and gold? It doesn’t matter anymore; a new problem has taken the internet by storm.

I once memorized the first five numbers of Pi. A few years ago, I earned a B in Geometry. That’s the extent of my mathematical accomplishments. When I came across this story regarding a Singaporean high school math problem, I immediately knew someone else would be explaining the thought process required to answer it correctly.

According to The Washington Post, the problem was part of some sort of nerd olympics held recently in Singapore.

The question first appeared on April 8, as part of the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiads contest. It was posted online Friday by a Singaporean television presenter and quickly went viral — perhaps because the problem was initially misidentified as one intended for 10- and 11-year-olds.

Here’s the problem:

The problem lists 10 different dates and based on a conversation between Albert and Bernard, we’re supposed to find an answer.

At first glance, it appears to be a simple word problem. When was Cheryl born? It could be a plethora of answers, but Albert and Bernard seem to have it figured out. I’m still sitting here scratching my head. While I do not consider myself to be stupid, I was completely perplexed by this mystery answer. Not a single date is listed in their conversation, yet I’m expected to deduce this shit?

If you have figured it out without any outside help, congratulations. You are officially more intelligent than myself, which may or may not be considered a compliment, and is certainly nothing to boast about.

Thankfully for those of us lacking the analytical ability to find a somewhat sensible answer to this question, a nerd from the BBC posted a YouTube video that explained step-by-step how to solve this riddle.

“There’s a slight sexual dynamic here that makes it quite fun.” What? Regardless of his unwanted commentary, the man’s explanation surprisingly makes sense, which only caused me to become even more perturbed.

As always, the people of the internet were sure to forever mark such an important date in human history.

Go to hell, Cheryl..

[via The Washington Post]

Image via YouTube