You’re a long way away from Busy At Maths 6 now, kid…
When it comes to school exams, maths is probably one of the greatest sources of anxiety for most people.
So, can you imagine opening up a maths paper only to see this:
Yes, you’d think getting maths questions in Chinese was hard enough, but believe us, the translation is the least of your worries.
The problem you have to solve is this:
“If a ship has 26 sheep and 10 goats on board, how old is the captain?”
Yes, the captain.
This was the question a group of Chinese 5th Grade pupils (10 – 11 year-olds) had to solve.
The pupils from Nanchong, situated in the southern provice Sichuan were given this question, which the national education bureau has defended, saying it was not a test of mathematical skills, but actually one which involved practical thinking.
According to the South China Morning Post, despite the internet’s complete inability to get past the question, the pupils responded with a number of answers.
One said, “The captain should be at least 18 years old because a minor is not allowed by law to operate a vessel.”
Another said, “We cannot be sure of the captain’s age. The number of sheep and goats is irrelevant to the captain’s age.”
And a third argued that “The captain is 36 years old. He is quite narcissistic, so the number of animals corresponds to his age.”
So now you know how to answer your next maths test. Give any answer, because none of them are wrong if you think about it hard enough.
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