Photo Credit: YouTube
This high school level math problem went viral in Japan after people began to claim that only 60% of 20-year-olds were able to get the correct answer – and using a calculator isn’t going to work, young whippersnappers, so get out your pen and your paper!
Going further old school – if you’re someone who remembers “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” to figure out the order of operations here, you’ve got a leg up.
Here’s the full answer in video format:
Basically, since there are no parentheses, exponents, or multiplication signs, you’d go after the division first (and should end up with 9), leaving you with 9-9+1.
Then, you’d move to addition and subtraction – left to right – which gives you 0+1.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Which means your answer to the problem should be a 1.
It’s incredibly simple if you remember your pneumonic device, but nigh impossible if you don’t. Score one for the old way of doing things, am I right?
Until next time!
h/t: Mental_Floss