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8 exam questions that divided the internet in 2015 – how many can you get right?
How many do you know the answer to? Here are eight questions that divided the internet in 2015
The 50 Cent maths question
A high school maths exam question about a 50 Cent piece coin sparked a debate after students complained it was too difficult.
"A 50 cent coin has 12 sides of equal length. Two 50 cent coins are balanced next to each other on a table so they meet along one edge.”
The degree of the angle between the coins is:
12
30
36
60
72
Find out the answer here.
The crocodile maths questions
The pass mark on a Scottish Higher Maths exam had to be lowered over concerns some of the questions were too difficult for students.
One of the questions asked students the amount of time it would take for a crocodile to reach its prey.
Do you know the answer? Find out if you got it right here.
Hannah's Sweets
This GCSE maths problem on the probability of getting two orange sweets from a bag had students going crazy with frustration.
The question told pupils that Hannah had a bag containing a total of n sweets of which 6 were orange. It said the chances of Hannah picking two orange sweets one after the other was one third and then said use that to prove that n²-n-90=0.
Find out the answer here.
When is Cheryl's birthday?
Cheryl and her birthday caused a furore after a confusing question involving two characters named Bernard and Albert went viral.
Cheryl gives her new friends, Albert and Bernard, ten possible dates to choose from when they inquire about her date of birth. She then tells Albert the month and Bernard the day of her birthday.
5+5+5
An internet debated raged when a student was marked down for solving 5 x 3 using the method 5+5+5.
The cruel exam question
A professor divided opinion with a cruel exam question designed to test the ethics of his students.
"Select whether you want 2 points or 6 points added onto your final paper grade," it said.
"But there's a small catch: if more than 10% of the class selects 6 points, then no one gets any points."
Would you have got the extra marks?
The microphone
Millions of internet users attempted to work out the answer to the question “what is a microphone?” with the options true or false.
What do you think the answer is?
Core maths test
Earlier this year, the head of an education trust called for a revolution in maths education.
So could you pass the new core maths test?
Meanwhile, think you could pass the world's hardest test? This is the entrance exam for fellowship at All Soul's College at the University of Oxford.
Example questions from the 'hardest test in the world'
- Did the left or right win the twentieth century?
- "Secure people dare". Do they?
- Should intellectuals tweet?
- Should prisoners be allowed to watch television?
- How can words be beautiful?
- Can we be forced to be free?
- Is the financial sector larger than it should be?
- Can policy rely on human rationality?
- Is there an economic case for limiting pay bonuses to twice an annual salary?
- Should the state restrict what people should do with their pension savings?
- Is homelessness a reflection of a badly functioning economy?
- Would an inflation target of 4% be better than 2%?
- How do apologies work?
- Does the status quo have any moral privilege?
- Can emotions be reasons for decisions?
- Can there be substantive disagreement in the absence of fact?
- What is the connection between knowing something and being certain of it?
- Is meaning best understood via the concept of truth?
- How can someone know what they will do tomorrow if they do not know that they will not have a heart attack before tomorrow arrives?
- Who should pay for the costs of educating and bringing up children?
Exam questions that divided the internet
Hannah's Sweets
When is Cheryl's birthday?
The answer
Step 1: Take the words from the question, and write it down as an equation - 6/n x 5/(n-1) = 1/3 Step 2: Multiply the 6 by the 5 and the n by the n-1. That gives you: 30/(n^2 - n) = 1/3 Step 3: Multiply the top-left by bottom-right and top-right by bottom-left Step 4: Subtract 90 from both sides, leading to your answer n^2 - n - 90 = 0
When is Cheryl's birthday?
The answer
You should create a table of four columns with the months at the top and the dates Cheryl gives after. "You can rule out some of the options. For Albert to have known the answer, he would have to have May and June as that is when 19 or 18 occur." The number 14 is the only one in both months but Bernard is now sure of the birth date. This means Bernard knows it is July 16.
The cruel exam question
The answer
The answer depends on what type of person you are. "In reality, if too many people overuse a common resource then everyone in the group suffers," said the professor who set it.
Why 5+5+5 doesn’t always make 15
The answer
A student was marked down for using the solution 5+5+5, with the teacher noting the correct working out should be shown as 3+3+3+3+3 using the repeated addition strategy.
The 50 cent conundrum
The answer
360 degrees in a circle divided by 12 x 2 coins = 60