Singapore math question goes viral, stumps adults

SINGAPORE – A mathematics question that was reportedly intended for primary school students has been making the rounds on Facebook and stirring up debate.

The logic question was shared by TV presenter Kenneth Kong on Facebook, and has been shared more than 2,000 times since Saturday.

“This question causes a debate with my wife… and it’s a P5 question,” he wrote.

The post also caught the attention of people outside Singapore.

The Australian Federation of International Students shared it on its Facebook page, and it was posted on reddit.com and Philosophy Forums.

Singapore’s math syllabus – which has a strong focus on problem solving and using model drawings – has been adopted in a number of Southeast Asian countries, the United States and even South America.

However, Singapore parents have raised concerns at times that pupils are being placed under tremendous stress in school.

Can you solve this problem?

In a separate report from Singaporean news agency mothership.sg, it was revealed that the math problem was a question during the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO) held last April 8. SASMO Executive Henry On, in a letter, said that the question is intended for students in the secondary level aged 14 to 15 year old and targets “the top 40% of the student population.”

“We think it is important to clarify so that Singapore parents will not worry unnecessarily. The supposedly P5 question that went viral on the Internet on Apr 12, 2015 is actually a question from the Sec 3 and from the Sec 4 SASMO (Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad) contests held on Apr 8, 2015. Being Q24 out of 25 questions, this is a difficult question meant to sift out the better students. SASMO contests target the top 40% of the student population and the standards of most questions are just high enough to stretch the students,” On said in the report. AJH/ With a report from The Straits Times/Asia News Network

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