THERE'S A STEREOTYPE worldwide that Asian children are stronger at mathematics than anyone else on the planet.
Now a maths problem from a secondary school exam in Singapore has shown just how high the standard is for maths and logic teaching in the Asian city-state.
This question comes from a maths paper given to pupils at S3 grade, who are aged 14 or 15 - in other words, the same age as Irish pupils when they're sitting the Junior Cert.
And it may look fairly manageable from the outset - but it ends up being really, really complicated.
In fact, everyone who comes up with an answer is certain that theirs is correct - but not everyone can be right!
Take a look:
Do you want the answer? Scroll down to find out!
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Keep scrolling!
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In the immortal words of Liberty X, just a little bit more...
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OK - the answer is JULY 16. Here's why!
- If Cheryl had told Bernard that the date was either the 18th or the 19th, he'd immediately know what month she was born in - because there's only one option for these dates.
- Albert's first statement is that Bernard could not possibly know the birthday. This means it CAN'T be in May or June - because if it was, it's possible that Bernard could have been given a unique date (18 or 19) - and be able to figure it out by himself.
- This means we're left with the five dates from either July or August.
- If Bernard had been told the date was the 14th, he would still not have known what Cheryl's birthday was - because it could be either July 14 or August 14. That means we can rule out 14.
- This leaves three options: August 15, July 16, or August 17. These all have unique dates, so Bernard now knows exactly what the birthday is.
- But Albert now says he also definitely knows what Cheryl's birthday is - and he was only told what month it's in. This means he must know it was in July - because if it was August, he would still have two possible answers.
- Therefore the correct answer is July 16.
But the REAL correct answer is that Albert and Bernard could probably make nicer friends.
Well done if you were able to work it out!
