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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Zahna Eklund & Kieran Isgin

The simple maths question that is causing A LOT of debate

A children's maths question has left a lot of people scratching their heads.

While the question seems easy on the surface, some have claimed it left them confused as they couldn't figure out what the puzzle was actually asking them to do. This has led to a wide range of different answers.

The question began making the rounds on Twitter and has been posted by many different users, racking up millions of views. One user who shared the picture of the problem said it "hurt his head", the Mirror reports.

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The question was shared by a man under the username @yawdmontweet, and it simply asked: "What is the closest time to midnight?" Four multiple choice answers were provided: "A. 11:55 am, B. 12:06 am, C. 11:50 am, or D. 12:03 am."

While the anser may initially seem obvoius, many were left confused as they vouldn't figure out if the question was asking them to find the time that was closest to midnight without having past midnight.

Because of this, some people believed the answer was A. One person said: "It says closest 'To' midnight. And not 'From' Midnight. Stop overcomplicating everything. Answer is A."

While another added: "It says closest TO midnight ... not after midnight. A." And a third posted: "Would have to be A, time cannot go in reverse so the fact that B and D are after midnight, they couldn't be the answer."

However, some frustrated commenters insisted the question was merely asking children which of the times was "closest" to midnight, regardless of whether it was before or after, making the correct answers D (12.03am).

One commenter said: "Y'all are getting me f***ing mad now. If you call an airline and ask for the closest flight to midnight possible and they put you on an 11:55 am flight instead of a few minutes past midnight, you would be frigging furious. Maths is supposed to be practical."

And someone else agreed, adding: "How y'all saying 'to' not 'after'. If you have to work at midnight and you're running late, and you tell the boss 'I'll get there as close to the time as possible' which of these is that?"

"The question speaks to proximity and not chronology, so the answer is D," another wrote, while a fourth also said: "Clearly a lot of children have been left behind. The answer is D!!! 'To' just means closest to the time itself, not insinuating that it's necessarily before midnight."

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