This simple-looking math equation has been making the rounds on social media! It looks exactly like a problem you would have easily solved in grade school, but it is making adults second-guess themselves today.
The problem asks you to solve: 8 + 8 ÷ 1.
Whenever a math equation pops up online, people immediately worry it is a trick. The most common mistake people make with these puzzles is forgetting the order of operations and just reading straight from left to right.
To prove you have the undeniably correct answer, you always have to remember the golden rule of math: multiplication and division must be completed before addition and subtraction.
So, your very first step is to tackle the division section at the end of the problem. 8 ÷ 1 simply gives you 8.
When you drop that 8 back into the equation, the math becomes incredibly easy: 8 + 8.
Now you can just add those two numbers together to find your final solution. (Interestingly, even if you accidentally forgot the rules and read this specific problem from left to right, you would still get very lucky and land on the exact same number!)
Answer: 16.
