This August 25th, challenge yourself with a handwritten math equation that has been causing a massive debate on social media! The file, image_28.png, asks a simple question right at the top: “Can you solve this?” It looks exactly like a problem you would have easily solved in grade school, but it is tricking a surprising number of older adults today.
The image asks you to solve: 10 – 10 × 0 + 1.
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 subtract 10 from 10 to get 0, then multiply by 0 to get 0, and add the final 1 to end up with a completely incorrect 1! That × 0 in the middle of the problem is a classic trap.
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 the multiplication section. 10 × 0 simply gives you 0.
When you drop that zero back into the problem, the equation becomes incredibly easy: 10 – 0 + 1.
Now you can just subtract and add the numbers together from left to right. 10 minus 0 is still 10, and adding the final 1 brings you directly to your solution.
Answer: 11.
