Parents baffled by 'crazy' math question meant for seven-year-olds – can you solve it? – The Mirror US
A math homework question has left people puzzled, with some claiming it's 'too difficult for children'.
In a bid to find the answer, one parent turned to Reddit for help, confessing they'd spent 30 minutes trying to solve the problem.
They posted: "Help me solve my son's third grade math homework. What's the missing letter in this sequence? J, L, L, ___, N, R, P, U, R, X. I've spent half an hour trying to solve a problem meant for a seven year-old and I can't figure it out."
The parent explained how they were following the rule: "V SBYYBJRQ GUR EHYRF." While some Reddit users managed to crack the code, others found the question perplexing.
One user commented: "Seems pretty hard for a seven-year-old kid." Another added: "If it's any consolation, me and my seven-year-old couldn't figure it out either."
A third user asked: "Can someone please explain what the ending of this post means? Thanks!". Thankfully, one helpful user provided the solution.
They explained: "The answer is JLLONRPURX. Basically the pattern is that on every odd turn, you move right along the alphabet, starting at 2 steps and increasing by one each time. On every even step, you move left along the alphabet, starting at 0 and moving -1 further along each time."
One math-savvy user added: "So if you imagine the alphabet as a number line, with J at zero, then your 'encryption' is: +2-0+3-1+4-2+5-3+6 I'm sure there's a math teacher who can word an explanation better than mine, seems pretty hard for a seven year old!"
And another said: "The answer is O. If you look at every odd letter, it skips over 1 letter. JLNPR. Every even letter skips over 2 letters L_RUX. Hence answer is O. To add, this is similar to a pattern such as 1, 10, 3, (13), 5, 16, 7, 19, 9."
This comes after another dad admitted he was struggling to solve his daughter's homework – and was in desperate need of help before she handed it in. And in other news, the maths puzzle has a small detail that 99% of people fall for. So can you get it correct?
