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Have you seen a riddle on social media that asks you to “calculate the total sum of numbers” and the top number looks like a 6? The answer to this puzzle is a bit trickier than you might think.
The riddle came to my attention when I was tagged on Facebook by a friend who was sharing the puzzle. It looks like this:
It’s not clear where the riddle originated. By now, it’s circulated on Facebook in many forms, although the numbers in the puzzle do look the same.
Are you ready for the answer? Here it is below.
Here’s the Answer to the Riddle
The answer is 30.
The key is to find all the numbers that are hidden in the photo. The riddle can be confusing because there are quite a few numbers hidden in the picture.
First, you can see the 6, 9, and 1 below:
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Then there’s the 8 and the 4:
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There’s a 2 hidden in there also. Note that where the 2 starts at the top, there’s a slight layer in the drawing, indicating that this is a 2 layered on top of the 8.
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So you’re looking at 6+9+1+8+2+4= 30
Most traditionally agree that this is the answer. For example, Republic World says the answer is 30. And this is the right answer because there are ever-so-slight layered marks in the drawing to indicate which numbers are layered on top of each other.
But some people debate this. Some say the 8 can also be divided up to look like a 3.
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That one’s debatable. Some might say it doesn’t look like a 3 at all. But if you think it looks like a three, then your answer is 33. However, the 6 doesn’t have a slightly layered mark in it to indicate there’s a 3 over the 8, so 33 is not going to be a widely accepted answer. (Others argue that the 8 has a hidden 5 in it too, but that’s really a stretch. It’s more of a hidden S, which isn’t a number.)
Some might argue that the 8 can also have a backward 3, giving you an answer of 36. If you try to stretch it even more, you might argue that the 2 turned upside down kind of resembles a 7, giving you the answer of 43. Others would even argue that there’s a hidden upside down 6 (when the 9 is turned upside down), giving you an answer of 49.
If you want to make things really confusing, you can argue that the 8 sideways is infinity, and the answer is infinity. This is a good go-to answer if people start trying to add in numbers that are upside down or sideways to the puzzle and make it all confusing.
So as you can see, once you start turning numbers upside down and sideways, things can get confusing fast. If we’re not looking at upside-down numbers and are watching for slight layering marks, then the answer is traditionally 30. If you do start looking at upside down or sideways numbers, then the answer quickly becomes infinity due to the 8 doubling as an infinity symbol.
This is just one of many riddles that are circulating on sites like Facebook and Instagram during the coronavirus pandemic. If you’ve seen the “How Many Ducks Do You See?” riddle and were stumped, check out Heavy’s explanation here. If you ran into the “I Met a Man on London Bridge” riddle and have no idea what the man’s name is, you can find the answer in Heavy’s story here. The answer to the “You Enter a Bedroom” riddle is here, and the answer to the “Can You Open the Lock Using These Clues?” riddle is here.
If you’re looking for the answer to the “Hotel with 100 Rooms” riddle, it’s here. The answer to the “State Without an A” riddle is here. The answer to the “How many letters are in the answer?” riddle is here. And the answer to the “Penny Has 5 Children” riddle is here.
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