Singapore math puzzle baffles netizens
A math problem that first appeared in a test for Singapore鈥檚 elite high school students has baffled Internet users around the world after it went viral, prompting a rush of attempts to solve it.
The question, involving a girl asking two boys to guess her birthday after giving them scant clues, first appeared in an April 8 test organized by the Singapore and Asian School Math Olympiads.
It was meant for 15- and 16-year-old elite secondary school students, but swiftly went global after a local television news presenter posted it on his Facebook page last Saturday.
In the question, Cheryl gives her new friends Albert and Bernard 10 possible dates when they enquired about her birthday, before separately giving each of them further clues.
Test-takers are then asked to use logic to deduce Cheryl鈥檚 birthday using a short talk between the two boys about the information given to them.
By Monday Internet users around the world were posting meticulously detailed answers to the puzzle on social media networks such as Facebook and Reddit, only to prompt a slew of comments disputing their findings and methodology.
Others posted sardonic comments about 鈥淐oy Cheryl.鈥
鈥淐heryl obviously didn鈥檛 want Albert and Bernard at her party. Should have taken the hint when Cheryl decided to play this little game,鈥 wrote David Leong on Facebook.
The 鈥渕ind-boggling鈥 problem also made the mainstream media, with leading websites, including the Guardian daily and Buzzfeed, publishing articles about the puzzle.
In a Facebook post late on Monday, SASMO provided the full question and a model answer, which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/4sasmo/posts/983396811695295.
Singaporean pupils are ranked second in the world in mathematics, according to the latest student assessment survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, beaten only by their counterparts in Shanghai.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔$粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.