Second-grader’s impossible math homework question leaves parents stumped: ‘Help this mama out’
I’ll be the first to admit that math isn’t my strongest subject.
I’d even go as far as saying I’m pretty much innumerate (illiterate but for numbers – not a real word but go with it.)
With that being said, as a full-grown adult, I thought I would be able to figure out the ‘impossible’ year two maths question that’s doing the rounds on the internet right now.
But I was wrong. So, so wrong.
It turns out, I’m not in the minority here. Hundreds of fellow adults were also scratching their heads trying to solve the task, which has been deemed ��unsolvable’ by many.
“Please help this mama out!”
It all started when a mom shared her child’s homework question to the r/askmath Reddit.
The question starts off by referencing a previous equation that read: “200 + 60 + 9 = 269.”
Seems simple, right?
But here’s where it gets tricky.
The next question encourages students to “stretch your thinking” by writing another addition equation.
It instructed: “The equation must have a 1-, a 2- and a 3-digit addend and use all of these digits.”
The digits in question included; 6, 6, 2, 2, 8, 8, 0, 0 and 0.
The mom shared a photo of the question next to some working out that’s been scribbled out. She captioned the post: “Second-grade math question that we can’t figure out. The teacher asked for an answer as well that included the numbers. I am so stuck!! This is probably so easy, but after an hour I’m at my wits’ end! Second grade!!!”
She added: “Please help this mama out.”
“This is year two homework?!”
People then rushed to the comments to give the equation a crack and share their thoughts on the question as a whole.
“Fasten your seatbelts… we’re going from ‘Are you smarter than a fifth grader?’ to ‘Are you smarter than a second grader?'” one user quipped.
A second critiqued the question, saying: “Okay but what the heck is this supposed to teach the kids? Guess and check?”
“Yeah, that is not something I would expect very many second graders to get. But then again, that is the ‘Stretch your thinking’ question for this worksheet,” mentioned a third user.
A fourth then made the point, “The unnecessary hyphens after the one and two kinda makes the question confusing, especially for a child.”
“What the hell are addends?” someone else asked, echoing everyone’s thoughts.
“I’m assuming your kid was taught what addends were before this homework was given? So they should have been able to at least explain that part considering that, from the comments, most people don’t have a clue what those are,” someone replied.
So, you’re probably dying to know the answer by now. And, thankfully, a smart cookie in the comments was able to help out.
Apparently, it was as simple as just recreating a similar formula to the previous answer.
“800 + 60 + 2 = 862,” wrote the user.
The OP praised them, saying, “Why did you make it look so easy?! We were about to start WWIII over here and you just whipped it out like the obvious answer that it is. Thank you for saving my tired brain and also my child’s teacher from a very worded email. You win hero of the day!”