A maths puzzle that only 10% of people can solve has been shared on TikTok, but people have been left scratching their heads over the answer – can you work it out?
This maths brainteaser isn’t as tricky as it looks. As much as we might hate to admit it, the maths we learnt at school does actually serve a purpose in every day life.
Whether we’re adding up the weekly shop, figuring out commute times or baking to perfection, we use maths more often than we might think – and it’s important that we keep our skills fresh in our minds.
Maths can also help boost cognitive function and keep our brains healthy. So, to mark the International Day of Mathematics today (March 14th), we’ve got a head-scratching puzzle to help you hone your skills. It’s said that only 10% of people can crack it – are you in that number-crunching elite?
The brainteaser made its buzz through an appearance on the Australian version of the game show The 1% Club. In the show, contestants are asked a variety of questions that are categorised by the percentage of participants who were able to solve them. The game starts with an easy 90% question and progresses all the way to a conundrum only 1% could solve.
This particular puzzle was the 10% question on the show, and took the form of a number sequence where constants had to find the missing number that completed the list. The host asked: “What is the next number that completes this sequence? 4, 2, 3, 4, 6, 4, 9, 4, ?”
Contestants on the show faced a tough challenge as they were given only 30 seconds to solve a tricky question – but nobody managed to crack it within the time limit. Why don’t you give yourself half a minute and see if you belong in the brainy top 10% by working out the solution before the clock stops?
The sequence may appear baffling at first, but the answer is astonishingly straightforward once you know what to look for. Here’s a little clue to get you started – you need to think outside the box.
It might seem like a numbers game but this riddle leans more towards a logic puzzle; figuring out the connection between the maths is key before you uncover the elusive number.
Answer
The correct solution is eight. In an unexpected twist, the sequence of numbers mirrors the number of letters in each word of the question – “what” has four, “is” has two, “the” has three, and so forth. The sequence continues until the second-to-last word of the quiz, revealing the answer “eight” for the word “sequence” itself.
Reactions to the puzzle on a TikTok video were mixed. Some commenters were thoroughly stumped, while others boasted about their speedy victories. One viewer confidently asserted: “That was way too easy. I figured it out before he finished reading the question.”
On the other side of the equation, another confessed: “I was staring at the numbers for so long trying to figure out some sort of pattern, I never even thought to look at the words!”