You are a maths whiz if you can solve this brain teaser | Trending

Brain teasers are a popular choice among puzzle enthusiasts, as they come in various forms and can be about numbers, words, shapes, or patterns. They are not only enjoyable but also help enhance your cognitive skills. Now, a brain teaser that is gaining popularity online has turned into a head-scratcher for many. It presents broken displays of four calculators, challenging people to figure out what each symbol represents as a number. Do you think you are smart enough to solve this particular brain teaser? Viral Brain Teaser: Do you think you solve this maths puzzle quickly?(Reddit/@lrdazrl) “The broken calculator: puzzle of maths, logic and pattern recognition,” reads the caption of the brain teaser shared on Reddit. The image has four examples where unique symbols represent different numbers. In each example, there is a sum of two or more numbers, and the challenge is to determine the value represented each symbol. The brain teaser also asks what is wrong with the calculator’s display. A text insert on the brain teaser reads, “The display of my calculator is broken and each number is replaced with a unique symbol! Based on the examples, can you figure out what number each symbol represents? And more importantly, what exactly is wrong with the display?” Take a look at the brain teaser here: Since being shared a few hours ago on Reddit, the brain teaser has raked up more than 100 upvotes. It has additionally receive numerous comments.Here’s how people have reacted to the brain teaser:“The top and bottom lines are each reversed – if a number has one, it’s turned off, if it doesn’t, it’s added,” commented a Reddit user. Another added, “Discussion: I have a theory that for the right it flips the top and bottom (from on to off or vice versa). This is because two one digit numbers can’t make something that starts with 2.”A third wrote, “Looking at example four first: The largest number you can get adding two one digit numbers is 8+9=17, so the first digit of the right side of the equation must be a 1. Also, because the left side of the equation has a 1 in it, the other character must be a 9, because that’s the only number you can add to 1 to get a two digit number, and that also means the second digit on the right is a zero. I couldn’t figure out a way to solve the rest of them, but based on what I figured out is seems the display is just inverting the top and bottom segments of the displays (so for numbers that should have them lit up they’re turned off, or the other way around).”“Given the answer for equation 3 is 9 (from 4), and you have removed 0, 1, then the only solution for those 3 symbols on the left is 2, 3, 4. You don’t yet know which is the middle symbol (let’s call it a). You have only 4 remaining digits, 5, 6, 7, 8, so it is pretty trivial to work out that a has to be 2 with the 2 equations being 2 + 5 = 7 and 2 + 6 = 8, however you don’t know which one is which without recognising that the reason the calculator is broken is because of the inverted top and bottom segments. Solving that gives you: 2 + 6 = 8, 5 + 2 = 7, 3 + 2 + 4 = 9, 1 + 9 = 10. Hope that helps,” explained a fourth.A fifth posted, “The top and bottom horizontal lights are inverted in function. Each glows when it is supposed to be off and is dim when it is supposed to be on. Implementing it gives: 2+6=8 | 5+2=7 | 3+2+4=9 | 1+9=10.” What are your thoughts on this brain teaser? Were you able to solve it without looking at the comments? ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arfa Javaid is a journal working with the Hindustan Times’ Delhi team. She covers trending topics, human interest stories, and viral content online. …view detail