My sons and their neighbor friends were hanging around the house playing monopoly etc. a couple of days ago. I wrote up a small math question to see if they would work it out at their age. They are all Chinese and moved here in the last 2 to 3 years. 

 

 

One of them answered it before I even wrote a) 

 

All of them answered it correctly almost immediately. 

 

I thought I might send it to our Thai friends, all of whom are Thai university educated. I sent it to 4 of them.

 

 

 

None of the 4 university educated Thais could do it.

 

If you know both of these groups, send it to them and see how they get on with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Your question is not much of a math, it is more of a riddle/puzzle designed to dupe with "O" looking like zero. If you tell them that your equations contain only symbols, not numbers, they probably would figure it out quickly. I guess the Chinese have seen this before somewhere else.

3 minutes ago, gearbox said:

If you tell them

????

1 hour ago, gearbox said:

Your question is not much of a math, it is more of a riddle/puzzle designed to dupe with "O" looking like zero. If you tell them that your equations contain only symbols, not numbers, they probably would figure it out quickly. I guess the Chinese have seen this before somewhere else.

Indeed, I was about to ask for clarification, is that a letter O or a Zero but for the answers given it's obviously not a zero.

 

So the answer is b, which is 3.

8 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Indeed, I was about to ask for clarification, is that a letter O or a Zero but for the answers given it's obviously not a zero.

 

So the answer is b, which is 3.

Yep .... I wasted a few minutes thinking it makes no sense, as what plus what could equal zero, then realised it was a circle, then it's easy.  Would be better if the circle was a square.   From my experience neither Chinese nor Thai kids tend to be good at lateral thinking due to their education systems - but give it to some Indian kids and they'll solve it in seconds.

Silly post.  I am not even sure if that first "equation" has a > sign or a sloppily written = equal sign.

Many University graduates study nothing related to math, never had algebra, etc., so even expecting some to understand the nature of this could be foolish

If the '0' is a zero, then any answer is correct, as any number x zero is still zero.  Was this mean to rick the kids or see if they could get it?

Do not ask ambiguous questions as the ids might be smarter than you are.

10 hours ago, ukrules said:

So the answer is b, which is 3.

I made it 689 ..................................  and a half

+ =

+ = 3x =

On 7/27/2021 at 11:57 PM, ukrules said:

Indeed, I was about to ask for clarification, is that a letter O or a Zero but for the answers given it's obviously not a zero.

 

So the answer is b, which is 3.

Yes, of course.

This is probably the stupidest "math" question I have ever seen.

And, this guy says that Thai university students were not able to solve this "problem".

 

Probably they knew, but were too polite to say what they were thinking.

 

Also, I do not enjoy cross-cultural comparisons concerning "intelligence", as is seemingly implied here.

 

Nonsense.

Meaningless.  If you do wish to do a comparison study, even a simple one, do like for like.  Maths puzzles with math graduates, science questions with science graduates. My Daughter-in- Law doesn't know the first thing about maths, but she is a Classics Professor, go figure. 

16 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Meaningless.  If you do wish to do a comparison study, even a simple one, do like for like.  Maths puzzles with math graduates, science questions with science graduates. My Daughter-in- Law doesn't know the first thing about maths, but she is a Classics Professor, go figure. 

When you state she is a Classics professor, I assume she is teaching classical physics involving classical mechanics, thermodynamics and electromagnetism, same as Michael Faraday, who was a classic.

11 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

When you state she is a Classics professor, I assume she is teaching classical physics involving classical mechanics, thermodynamics and electromagnetism, same as Michael Faraday, who was a classic.

She is a Greek Scholar 

On 7/27/2021 at 11:57 PM, ukrules said:

Indeed, I was about to ask for clarification, is that a letter O or a Zero but for the answers given it's obviously not a zero.

 

So the answer is b, which is 3.

Sorry, it was obvious that the triangles and the circles were just symbols unrelated to the Hindu-Arabic number system, just at a glance.  The problem with the post is the implied correlation between cultural background and native math ability.  I think the OP has not yet collected enough data to draw any conclusions, just by his at-home field research.

2 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

She is a Greek Scholar 

The Greek scholar Socrates is my hero.

Where would we be without the Socratic method, even at Harvard Law School?

Of course, if one has no experience with solving simultaneous equations, then this simple problem might be difficult.

 

Probably, my guess is the reason that the Chinese students were so easily able to see the answer is because they had used this method to learn the how to solve simple simultaneous equations using symbols other than Hindu-Arabic symbols.

 

And, maybe this is a good way to teach.  My guess is that it is.

 

However, when we get to the solution for 3 equations, then using random symbols is more difficult.

 

Using smiley faces for symbols, might not be so elegant, and far more cumbersome.

 

4???? - 3???? + ???? =  -????️

 

 

Epic fail on the "question".

 

Use Mathematical terminology: Statements, Propositions...If, AND, THEN, Solve for.

 

Otherwise...stop eating the paste.

 

 

Many of the replies indicate there are many low IQ members on Thai Visa. ????

Thai University math level is on par to middle school math level in other develop Asian countries.

On 7/27/2021 at 9:54 PM, gearbox said:

Your question is not much of a math, it is more of a riddle/puzzle designed to dupe with "O" looking like zero. If you tell them that your equations contain only symbols, not numbers, they probably would figure it out quickly. I guess the Chinese have seen this before somewhere else.

It could be o or 0 or any number or symbol the answer would be the same 

I studied pure maths at university and couldn't do it. 

 

One of my worst nightmares is about Chinese kids. It goes something like losing my job teaching business people and having to don Mickey Mouse ears and learn to play the ukulele to make ends meet. 

 

It's quite easy and elementary. If you substitute them with x,y,z.

 

The answer is 3.