Teresa Hopper found herself unable to understand her seven-year-old's maths homework that is so complex, even a professor couldn't make sense of it.
It wasn't long before she reached out to a Facebook group to beg other parents to help explain the task given by a teacher to her child.
Taking to the Facebook group Family Lockdown Tips and Tricks, she commented: "I hate homework. Please help!
“Is the answer to a) & b) the same or am I missing something?!”
The question asks: "Karla says: 'I have three hundreds counters, 17 tens counters and 16 ones counters.
"a) Can she make two equal three-digit numbers? If so, draw the counters to show them.
"b) Can she make two equal three-digit numbers if she had to use all her counters? If so, draw the counters to show them.”
One member of the group replied: “I have a PhD in maths, and I have no idea what this question is asking. Unless there’s a diagram to go with it, or more explanation somewhere else.”
And a second agreed, taking to Facebook to moan: "I'm lost."
"Who is this aimed at?" asked another confused parent on the site.
The post from Teresa racked up dozens of responses and replies - and nobody seemed able to help her.
"This is over my head," said another Facebook user. But we've got the answer!
The solution
Fiona Goddard, senior education consultant at Maths-Whizz, got out her counters to unpick the puzzler.
She points out that three hundreds counters, 17 tens counters and 16 ones counters look like this.
Karla's counters make a total of 486.
We can see this by adding them up:
3 x 100 = 300
17 x 10 = 170
16 x 1 = 16
300 + 170 + 16 = 486
To answer A, there are many solutions as there are many different three-digit answers between 100 and 243 that Karla can create with equal counters.
Fiona points out that 172 is one of them as not all the counters need to be used. And that's the key!
To answer B , it is 243.
From here, you can divide the total of 486 by 2 to get 243. Fiona does that by making two equal groups.
Group 1: Two hundred counters, four ten counters and three one counters.
Group 2: One hundred counter, 13 ten counters, and 13 one counters.
As Fiona modestly put it: "I hope that helps." It certainly does!
