Mathematical Problems: Homework Questions for Kids That Can Leave Adults Stumped

If you are a parent with a kid who goes to school, you’ve probably had to help your child with homework at least once. It can be surprisingly difficult to figure out what the mathematical problem is about and how to solve it correctly, especially if you finished school years ago. Here are some peculiar examples of mathematical problems that have given adults headaches (and how to actually solve them).

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#1 How Many Rhombi Are Needed?

The parent who posted this mathematical problem said that the teacher claimed the answer is 2 and marked the answer 6 as incorrect. In reality, it seems that the problem itself is wrong – and the test key the teacher used is likely wrong too.

The correct way to ask the question would be, “How many hexagons can be created from 6 rhombi?” This is because the entire shape depicted in the problem is not a rhombus but a hexagon.

#2 Solve This IQ Maths Puzzle

This mathematical puzzle is allegedly only solvable for someone with a high IQ. It has to be solved within 15 seconds to see how smart you are. Both kids and adults can likely solve it if they paid attention in class back in middle school. Here are the steps:

1. Determine the value of each fruit: one mango is 5, one pear is 9, one pineapple is 3.

2. Add all the values of the fruits: 5 + 9 + 3 = 17

#3 Can You Solve This?

What looks like a simple mathematical equation might actually be more confusing than it is at first glance. There are two ways people have tried to solve the equation:

· PEMDAS – This method solves the equation in the order of parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction to arrive at the answer of 9.

· BIDMAS – This method solves the equation in the order of brackets, indices, division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction to arrive at the answer of 1.

The correct answer is 9 because the parentheses should be solved first. Then, you need to perform the division and multiplication to get 9 as a result.

#4 How Many Pages Are There in the Book?

This Year 5 mathematical problem got many adults confused. The problem is actually not very hard if you are used to working with fractions. However, if you haven’t solved any problems like this in a while, it can be confusing.

The answer is 48 pages. 1/4 of the book + 1/8 of the book + 30 pages should equal the number of total pages read. This means that 3/8 of the book + 30 pages is the total number. So 5/8 of the book is equal to 30 pages. So 1/8 of the book is 6 pages. So the total number of pages is 48.

#5 How Much Did He Give His Brother?

This problem is meant to be solved by ten-year-old children, but it got even adults confused. If you are a teacher who wants to write such problems, you should probably hire a writer from the writing service Trust My Paper who will help you make sure that your wording isn’t confusing.

Nevertheless, if it isn’t the wording that got you confused, then you should probably try solving it in a similar way to the previous problem. The answer you should get is 24 (1/3 of his money + 12 pounds + 1/2 of his money equals his total money).

#6 Array Assessment

This is truly a great way to make children hate mathematics. No wonder so many of them do considering that there are teachers who market such solutions as incorrect. Here, the student counted the circles from up to down and used columns in their calculations.

Apparently, the teacher believed this was incorrect because they expected the child to count rows. The answers are pretty much the same, so it makes no sense to mark the student’s work as wrong (except if the teacher wants to confuse the child).

#7 What Was the Population at the Start of the First Day?

Some mathematical questions heavily rely on logic which can be a great exercise for the child… unless there is absolutely no logic in the problem itself. The question is meant for Years 3-6 students (this one’s specifically from Australia).

The students are supposed to work back from the last day to the first one and explain how they find the answer. It can be a complicated task even for adults.

#8 Circle the Odd One Out

This is probably one of the most stressful mathematical problems you can come across. Which is the odd one out? It seems there is no specific type of logic that you could use to answer this question correctly which can leave a lot of adults and kids confused.

The point of the problem is that it has an open-ended question. Essentially, this means that there is no one right answer – it can be whatever the student chooses it to be as long as they can explain their choice. It is a way to teach children that mathematics isn’t something with a strict set of rules that should always be followed.Final Words

Mathematics isn’t particularly complicated in elementary school, but as students progress to middle school and then high school, it definitely becomes more challenging. As adults, we don’t remember a lot of the topics we learned about at school, so it is only natural that we might get confused by the problems children have to solve.

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