This handwritten math equation has been causing a massive debate online! The paper comes with a clear warning: “Don’t Answer Too Fast! Answer is NOT 13.” It looks exactly like a problem you would have easily solved in grade school, but it is tricking a surprising number of people today.
The image asks you to solve: 13 + 13 × 0 – 13 ÷ 13.
What makes this puzzle so tricky is our natural instinct to read and calculate straight from left to right. If you do that, you might add 13 and 13 to get 26, multiply by 0 to get 0, and then get completely stuck!
To get the right answer, you have to remember the golden rule of math: the order of operations. This rule states that multiplication and division must always be completed before addition and subtraction.
So, your very first step is to tackle both the multiplication and division sections. 13 × 0 simply gives you 0, and 13 ÷ 13 gives you 1.
When you drop those new numbers back into the problem, the equation becomes incredibly easy: 13 + 0 – 1.
Now you can just add and subtract the remaining numbers from left to right. 13 plus 0 is still 13, and subtracting the final 1 brings you directly to your true solution.
Answer: 12.
