Can You Solve This Maths Question Meant For Kids?

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Let’s be honest, most of the people are afraid of maths class.

But have a quick look at a maths question for Chinese 5th graders that had left the internet stumped.

“If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship’s captain?”

And there you have it. It's a question that seemingly has no solution, or maybe any answer will do. It’s not really maths, more like a riddle, served with a side of metaphysics.

Whatever it was, the 11-year-olds tried their best to answer this thing.

"The captain should be at least 18 years old because a minor is not allowed by law to operate a vessel," one suggested.

"The captain is 36 years old," another student guessed. "He is quite narcissistic, so the number of animals corresponds to his age."

Some social media users are actually trying to figure out the answer in unexpected and logical ways. These clever, creative, and crestfallen responses went viral.

(a reference to the science fiction novel “A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,” by Douglas Adams, in which 42 is the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.”)

In fact, this is a question original from a paper written by Swiss educationists Kurt Reusser. the question was meant to "examine... critical awareness and an ability to think independently,"

As the world assumes, “Asian people are good with maths.” We’ve amazed a lot of people with the maths classes we took when we were younger.

Things have moved to a point, that when others are proving the theorems of mathematics, they would hashtag ‘Chinese’ and @PDChina.

Now the UK is introducing a Chinese maths book series in the country. (Start feeling sorry for those little boys and girls 😢)

Chinese people are under a lot of pressure and tired of “being good at maths”, when actually, not all of them are good at maths!!

BUT ANYWAY, do you have any idea of the age of the ship’s captain? Leave your most creative and clever answer!

“If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship’s captain?”

What is your opinion? Let us know! Comment below！

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