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By Alyce Collins
Senior Reporter
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It doesn't matter how gifted you are at math, this children's homework question is bound to leave you baffled, just like the millions of puzzled internet users who can't comprehend it.
In a now viral Reddit post, user u/NicePersonOnReddit shared a picture of his 11-year-old son's math question which left him perplexed. The 41-year-old from the UK told Newsweek that the only way of answering the "badly written" question is with an "impossible scenario" that's not humanly possible.
The question explains that 20 children were asked whether they'd like to go to a theme park, zoo, or the theater on a trip. That is followed by a pie chart, showing 65 percent of children chose the theme park, and an equal amount chose the zoo and the theater.
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The question then asks which percentage of children chose the zoo and which percentage opted for the theater.
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"I don't think there is a valid correct solution, but I assume the intended answer was 17.5 percent for the two questions shown," u/NicePersonOnReddit said. "We got what we assume is the intended answer in a minute or so but then spent 10 minutes or more discussing the inevitable poor half children."
The question was included in the revision material for the 11-year-old's SATs test, a standard assessment for school children of this age. Students in the US have a different SAT which they take between the ages of 16 and 18.
After being stumped by the question, the dad shared it on Reddit to see what others made of the puzzle.
Since it was shared on April 23, the Reddit post has gone viral with over 7 million views at the time of writing. He's been blown away by the online response, as internet users were left puzzled by the pie chart and joked about the supposed answer.
"The majority of the responses understood the intent of the post and replied in a polite and jovial way, acknowledging the poor quality of the question and enjoying the humor of it. I liked some of the jokes that were made," u/NicePersonOnReddit told Newsweek.
He continued: "It's quite nice to see lots of people enjoy debating math problems, even though many of them might say they are not that good at it. I think it's had a positive impact on most of the Reddit users who have seen it, and I'm pleased about that."
Thankfully, the rest of the questions were easy enough for the poster's son to complete and the other answers didn't lead to any half children.
In just a matter of days, the Reddit post has amassed more than 1,900 comments from bewildered social media users.
One comment reads: "The 0.5 children shall merge together to be a new child."
Another Reddit user wrote: "In my academic career it was made glaringly clear that thou shall not use pie charts because of their ambiguity."
Another person added: "I mean it does just ask for a percentage, not an amount. Still dumb though."
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