If you're not blessed with a brain for numbers, then looking over your children's maths homework can prove to be a bit of an ordeal, especially when you encounter a particularly difficult problem to solve. One mum was recently left astonished after her 10-year-old daughter came home with a maths question that left her absolutely stumped.
Confessing she'd been left 'stumped', Sky News presenter Anna Botting recently took to Twitter with a screenshot of her daughter's homework, using it as an example of why Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plans to make maths compulsory up to the age of 18 just wouldn't work for many pupils.
Taking to Twitter, where she goes by the username @annabotting, Anna wrote: "So maths to 18 for schoolchildren is Rishi Sunak’s plan. But, genuinely, maths is hard for some of us… This [pointing thumb emoji] my 10-year-old daughter's maths homework, had me stumped."
The problem in question reads as follows: "At the beginning of the day, Hasim counted his money. 'He gave his brother 1/3 of his money. He spent £12 on a present for his sister.
“He then counted what he had left, and it was half what he had at the beginning of the day. How much money did he give his brother? Show your method."
A number of Anna's followers set about trying to solve the problem themselves, with many full-grown adults admitting they'd found it anything but easy.
One person gasped: "That's a ten-year-old’s? That's very difficult for Year 5! I think Grade 6 at GCSE would struggle with that one."
Another remarked: "I'm 38 and the way I worked it out was to look in the comments and see what answers other people had because I didn’t have a clue where to even start?!"
A third person commented: "As a teacher, I can't honestly see the point of these highly convoluted maths problems, they just heighten anxiety, feelings of frustration and failure, and let's be honest are no practical use whatsoever. Maths to 18 won't make a jot of difference, critical thinking skills will!"
After leaving her followers to puzzle it out for a while in her replies, with varying results, Anna shared the answer, which had been 'kindly jotted down by daughter’s teacher in classroom'.
She wrote: "To all who said 24 [tick emjoi] And 72 - read the Q."
So, if Hasim gave his brother 1/3 of the money, spent £12, and still has half of his money left, then: 12 = (1/6)x. You'll then need to resolve x: x = 72. 72/3 = £24, meaning this is the amount he gave his brother.
Did you manage to figure it out?
Have you been left stumped by your child's homework? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
