The benefits of keeping your mind active are widely recognised for improving cognitive performance, bolstering memory, and aiding concentration and attention to detail. Some suggest that vigorous mental gymnastics might even postpone symptoms linked to dementia.
With various forms accessible, brainteasers stretch the limits of intelligence, prompting only those with a superior IQ to crack them – and this teaser is notoriously tough. It really pushes one’s mental faculties to their limit, yet engaging in such challenges can hone your mind’s focus, memory, and overall cognitive prowess.
One such brainteaser is baffling people regardless of their mathematical prowess. It poses what looks like a straightforward equation but proves rather confounding upon closer inspection.
Many have been torn between two seemingly plausible solutions. Have you got the brains to solve it?
Social media has been abuzz with a maths test question that prompts: “Mike and Stacy have a combined age of 50. Mike is 40 years older than Stacy. How old is Stacy? ” Initially shared on Instagram’s Threads, the conundrum has generated a flurry of comments as users strive to deduce the correct answer.
At first glance, it might seem intuitive to speculate that Stacy is 10 years old to Mike’s 40, totalling a joint age of 50 – but that’s an erroneous conclusion. If we parse out the problem understanding that their ages must add up to 50, quick arithmetic reveals Stacy cannot be 10 for that would render Mike 50, culminating in a sum of 60, not the stipulated 50.
While many guessed the answer to be 10, some used their mathematical prowess to crack the sequence and find the correct solution. One individual broke it down: “x+y=50, x-y=40, x=(50+40)/2=45, y=(50-40)/2=5.”
Another person clarified: “We know that the total number is 50 and we also know that there is an age gap of 40. Add those values together is 90, divide by two and you get 45. Mike is 45 and therefore Stacy is five.”
The original poster was notably impressed with how quickly some arrived at the correct answer, responding to the solver with, “Awesome! You’re right! ” The true answer is that Stacy is five years old.
Did you figure it out? Drop your thoughts in the comments section.
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