Everyone agreed on the first step: Solve inside the parentheses, for 2+2=4. But after that, people split down two paths. Some multiplied first, while others divided, leading to different answers—1 and ...

A graphic artist is testing everyone’s knowledge of algebra and spot-the-difference skills with a pictograph math problem that assigns numbers to different fruits. Gergely Dudás, of Hungary Budapest, ...

You probably think you're smarter than a middle schooler. If you want to know for sure, try your hand at this basic math problem. It's harder than it looks — even if you think you have a solid grasp ...

You don’t have to be a math whiz to know that 4 - 2 + 1 equals 3. Yet I was working with several students recently who said it equals 1. And it wasn’t their fault. Nor was it their teacher’s fault.

Every few months, the Internet eats itself over some kind of viral riddle or illusion, each more infuriating than the last. And so, like clockwork, this maddening math problem has gone viral, ...

The confusion (likely intentional) boiled down to a discrepancy between the math rules used in grade school and in high school. By Steven Strogatz Recently I wrote about a math equation that had ...