Number puzzle

[Olderisbetter]

Why do people end up arguing over these, its caused a right barny on my whatsapp last night, at least 5 different answers

 

[julianthegypsy]

845
Most of these are rubbish because they deliberately leave out brackets. I read this as 400 divided by 0.5, then add 45. I'm sure other answers will be along shortly!

 

[Tangledfeet]

Yup, 845.

 

[voipio]

845.

 

[Other Daniel]

47

 

[hotponyshoes]

Or 245...

Like most of the social media math's problems, incorrectly written on purpose to gain comments!

 

[Robotstar5]

I would have said 245 but maths was never my strong point

 

[James1979]

I get 845 but I know there is a rule you do some things before others, brackets or not.

I can’t remember what it is so my 845 may be wrong.

However if you follow the literal order of the sentence then 845 it is.

But @hotponyshoes nailed it to be fair.

 

[Olderisbetter]

I got 845 but last night others said 245 445 845 plus a few other answers, i just see it as units, if i had 400 units and broke them in half thats 800 units plus another 45

 

[James1979]

400 x 0.5 = 200
400 / 0.5 = 800

Fk knows where the 445 came from!!

 

[Bravheart]

Can only see 3 different answers so far even the collective can't make 5. Could get 62.77... just to be different but Fwiw I would make it 47.

 

[Other Daniel]

Aha.... But it says "half" not "a half", so to my mind,

400 divided by half is suggesting 400 divided by 200.
400/200=2, add 45 and you get to 47.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

42 Everyone knows that's the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

 

[Guineafowl]

^^^ these are all memes. They’re deliberately not written clearly, so they provoke debate and sharing, and go viral.

There is no right answer, because the question is ‘wrong’ in the first place.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Aha.... But it says "half" not "a half", so to my mind,

400 divided by half is suggesting 400 divided by 200.
400/200=2, add 45 and you get to 47.

Interesting take on it. I'd say that it doesn't say half of 400, it just says half, not divide 400 by 200 (half of 400), but that's exactly the kind of argument that these puzzles are designed to promote!

 

[daleyd]

BODMAS for the order of “doing things” - but as said it’s written deliberately vague in order to start arguments

 

[James1979]

BODMAS for the order of “doing things” - but as said it’s written deliberately vague in order to start arguments

That’s the bugger!

Thank you

 

[hotponyshoes]

I don't think it needs any brackets.
To divide anything "by half" would be the total number of half's in the unit so 800.
To divide "in half" would be 200

But then the "and add 45" would still not be right as it should say "then add 45"

But, when it says divide 400 by half there is no literal number given for the 'half'
As the only number mentioned so far is 400 it would be grammatically correct to assume that 200 was the 'half'
So 400/200=2


Basically, as said, the "correct" answer would vary depending on the approach to the question, it's not titled "maths problem" so you could approach it from a grammatical, mathematical or practical point of view and get different answers, each correct from the point of approach.

Interesting, as everyone can be correct with the answer but causes arguments as they can each correctly belive they have the right answer!

 

[Other Daniel]

To be fair, it hasn't actually caused any arguments, as such, here...

....

.... Yet

But, yes, it has been deliberately written to be open to interpretation.
Each different interpretation will produce a different answer.

 

[Guineafowl]

Each different interpretation will produce a different answer.

Here’s the thing, though - whichever way you interpret the question, it’s a very easy calculation and hardly a ’brain test’!