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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Andrew Bardsley

The 'impossible' question on GCSE exam that had 16-year-olds across the country stumped

Maths students were left scratching their heads over an 'impossible' exam question. Many teenagers taking the Edexcel GCSE Maths paper said they were stumped by one particular task.

One parent told the M.E.N. that even some teachers at their child's school struggled to come up with the solution to the 'impossible' question. A University of Manchester maths student even admitted he found it 'tough'.

Candidates were asked to work out the area of the shaded part of some circles, if all the circles have a radius of four. "A tough one, even I had to spend some time looking where to start," Manchester university student Harry Surplus tweeted.

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"Sorry #EdexcelMaths but what was that last question," one student tweeted. Another said they spent '20 mins... just staring at the last question'.

Maths teacher Jonathan Baker also took to Twitter to offer the correct method of answering the question.

As well as leaving many teenagers nonplussed, the conundrum is sure to leave many in a cold sweat as they have flashbacks to their own maths exams. Edexcel have been approached for comment.

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