Math Memes #1

Destroying Twitter Trolls with Math

We’ve all seen the math memes on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. It’s a picture of a seemingly easy math problem that some troll is just waiting for the first correct answer to “gotcha” the poster with a wrong answer that they use faulty logic to back up but will die at the stake to protect.

Here’s one from X today:

This seems like an easy challenge. We identify the variables, solve for the values of each and then post an answer. Using the rules of Algebra it’s pretty easy, with only one assumption to be made.

Let’s write the equations in Algebraic form.

a + a + b = 23
c + c + c = 6
a + d x d = 56
b x d+2c = ??

First, we simplify our equations

2a + b = 23
3c = 6
a + d² = 56
b x d + 2c = ??

That’s about as simple as we can make it. To solve it reasonably, we’re going to make some assumptions.

1. We are only dealing with whole numbers.

Hmmm, can we figure out d anywhere?