As the most hated subject for many, most adults are happy to see the last of maths in their school years.
That is, of course, until people have children of their own. Before you know it - with a wallop to the ego - you could be decades from primary school and still find yourself bewildered by maths meant for a 10-year-old.
As it happens, Sky News presenter Anna Botting took to Twitter to present that exact dilemma. She shared the question that got her 'stumped' and asked her over 30,000 followers if they were able to solve it.
Anna tweeted: "So #Maths to 18 for schoolchildren is Rishi Sunak's plan. But, genuinely, maths is hard for some of us… This my 10 year old daughter's maths homework, had me stumped".
Sharing a picture of the homework in question, the problem asks: "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."
Could you solve this maths question? Let us know how you got on in the comments.
Many of the respondents to the tweet, which received 755 responses and 1,070 likes, were sympathetic to Anna's plight as others showed how they solved the problem.
Good Morning Britain meteorologist Laura Tobin attached a snap of her handwritten calculations, adding: "Definitely difficult for a 10 year old. Here is how I would do it!"
Another Twitter user responded with a similar photo of his notepad: "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."
A teacher piped in to say the problem had no 'practical use': "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 lets be honest are no practical use whatsoever. Maths to 18 wont make a jot of difference, critical thinking skills will!"
Anna shared an explainer from her mum, former Radio 4 MoneyBox presenter, Louise Botting, who went the algebra route many of the commenters did - whilst others went the way of equivalent fractions.
In the end, Anna and her daughter got the answer.
"Thanks to all those who’ve attempted this!," she tweeted. "Answer time…kindly jotted down by daughter's teacher in classroom: To all who said 24 [tick emoji]"
"And 72 - read the Q ☺️For those like me who couldn't do it… [shrug emoji]".
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