Question from 5th grader's math test baffles many on the internet
The education system is raising the bar every academic year. The current syllabus and concepts children are being taught are quite different from what was taught earlier. Preschoolers and toddlers learning complex theories and concepts leave adults like u/springwaterh20 often baffled. The person shared a post about their 5th-grade brother’s math exam but it has been deleted. One of the questions in the test posted by the sibling has adults going crazy. People are hilariously raising concerns about the increasing complexity of the syllabus.
The problem left people puzzled and some even recalled how difficult the subject was for them as students. The question read, “Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and 1/8 of the book on Tuesday. He completed the remaining 1/4 of the book on Wednesday. How many pages are there in the book?” There was nothing more than the question and a blank block for the answer. Some people took no time in using their flawless skills and providing solutions. u/megadori wrote, “1 book = 30 pages + 1/8 book + 1/4 book; 1 book = 30 pages + 3/8 book; 1 book - 3/8 book = 30 pages; 5/8 book = 30 pages; 1 book = 48 pages.”
u/Northernsparrow wrote, “My mental process was - He read the last 1/4 on Wednesday, so he must’ve read 3/4, which is 6/8, in the previous days. But he only read 1/8 on Tuesday. So he must’ve read the other 5/8 on Monday. We’re told he read 30 pages on Monday. We know he read 5/8 of the book on Monday. So 30 pages = 5/8 of the book. So how much is an eighth of the book? We know 30 pages is 5/8. 30 pages divided by 5 is 6 pages. So a unit of 6 pages is 1/8 of the book. The book, therefore, is eight units of 6 pages = 8 x 6 = 48 pages long.”
However, others didn’t even want to try. They immediately threw in the towel and said that the question was too hard. u/GayCoonie said, “And now we can all see why ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?’ worked as a gameshow.” u/marctheguy pointed out, “This was a surprisingly challenging math problem for a 10-year-old but once you have learned Algebra, it's not that tough.” Some people couldn’t get their minds around the fact that 5th graders were expected to solve something like this.
u/idrink211 wrote, “I wasn't asked to do basic algebra in 5th grade. I don't recall doing anything like this word problem until 8th, maybe freshman year.” u/isaikya echoed many opinions and said, “I would fail fifth-grade math.” With over 4k comments, people also hysterically expressed their frustration with the problem and its complexity. u/DirectionNews5823 hilariously remarked, “Why didn’t Klein just read the remaining 18 pages on Monday? Klein is lazy.” u/Bio_Hazard186 added, “Since I have a tendency to overthink these problems, I would have been stuck questioning if he started the book on Monday.”
