Helping kids with their homework can be a daunting task, and one that sometimes leads you to wonder whether you really are as smart as you think.
These confusing activities do just that, leaving parents around the world baffled as to how they can find the answer.
From maths problems to English quizzes, these tasks are a challenge to solve - unless you can help?
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Sometimes, something that seems so simple to one person is anything but to others, and that was the case with this homework question.
A parent who was clearly stumped took to Reddit's HomeworkHelp? community this week to appeal for help with this visual question.
"Alright, I'm blanking out on this one, I need help from the hive mind," the person, who called themselves RhinoG91 wrote alongside a photo of a page of English homework for a first grader.
The poster added that the "black paper covers the word my son thought and I didn't want to sway anybody."
The question asked the student to "Circle the pictures with the same sound sending as..." beside a fish.
The options were a hamburger, a frog, a jar with lid and a spoon.
There were also some strategically placed arrows but it was initially hard to tell if they were pointing to a part of each item, adding to the confusion.
For instance, while some thought the first arrow was pointing to the fish, others believe it was directed at the fin.
So if that is a fin, maybe the burger is a bun. But what about the lid? There is an arrow pointed there too, but not at the spoon, which ends in 'n'. Confused yet? I know we are.
Despite many commenters believing they knew the correct answer, it still isn't clear to us. What do you think?
You can view the answers on Reddit.?
It looks relatively easy, right?
Identify the picture and find its matching three-letter word in the searc?h ¨C each with the middle letter "e".
There's a web, vet, leg, bed, hen and ... thumb?
One parent was so stumped trying to help their child figure out the answer she had no choice but to send it back to the teacher with a note scrawled on it.
"Sorry, we can't figure this one out. Mum" ?
She went hunting in the right place for the answer, uploading the sheet to Reddit, declaring "I need help."
And most knew the answer immediately...
Yes! ?
A frustrated Redditer has taken to the forum for help solving a fifth grade crossword puzzle.
"5th-grade crossword has us all stumped," they wrote on Reddit's 'Mildly Infuriating' thread.
Clues as to the answers seemed vague to most Reddit followers, who suggested different word combinations for the other answers to help with the one below that is stumping the family.
The clue to the missing answer appears to be an educator holding an implement.
The answer ended up being "rattan", which has a disturbing meaning, as explained on the forum.
"Rattan. It is a type of cane or stick used to punish school children. Edit: This was a legitimate for of punishment in Scottish schools until 1982.?"
Helping your child do their homework has to be the biggest downside of parenting.
But at least when they are little it couldn't be too hard, could it?
Try telling that to the Reddit user who posted this photo of a maths problem.
"So confused at a six year old's homework," they wrote in Reddit's 'About Community'.
The question states: "Danny had dropped paint on his book."
Underneath is a drawing of a pain splotch with the word "most" written beside it.
Beneath it are 16 apples arranged in two rows of eight with the word "least" beside it.
"How many apples could be covered by the paint. There cannot be more than 20," continues the question.
The majority of Reddit users discussed the terrible camera angle used for the photo while others surmised it would be easier to answer the question, which was labelled 6b, if they could see 6a.
While some people claimed to understand the question, our favourite comment was this one: "I'm an engineer in my 30s and I didn't get it. I'm in trouble when these six-year-olds hit the workforce."?
Others agreed, with one saying: "When was this published?! Like 1962? It's Rattan, which is a wood that was commonly used for caning kids on their palms or butt."
"Why is no-one talking about how badly designed this crossword is," another added.?
A? children's math's question which seems to be simple at first, has left thousands debating whether the answer is actually that obvious.
The question posted to Twitter by @yawdmontweet? reads, "What is the closest time to midnight?"
The multiple choice question gives four answers to choose from, "A. 11:55 am, B. 12:06 am, C. 11:50 am and D. 12:03am"
?And while it didn't take the majority of people too long to choose option D as their final answer, they were just as quickly second-guessing themselves.
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While 12:03 am is just three minutes after midnight, ?others interpreted the question differently.
They chose option A as the answer 11:55 am as it was the closest to midnight (12 hours and 5 minutes) without going back in time, only forward.
"It says closest 'to' midnight and not 'from' midnight. Stop over-complicating everything. Answer is A," one person commented.
Another argued, ?"The answer is D. None of those 11:00am times falls in the night."
"The question speaks to proximity and not chronology, so the answer is D", agreed another.
And although over 1.4 million people have seen the tweet, it seems they can't come to an agreement on what the answer definitively is.
If you've ever been to a restaurant where there are kids, you'll know ?parents (usually) do their best to keep them quiet and entertained so other patrons can enjoy their meal in peace.
Behold an iPad or, indeed, some form of game or activity, often supplied by the restaurant.
(Oh how I loved the animal mask and pencils supplied by the Black Stump back in the day...)?
Thousands of adults have been left scratching their heads over a word search game printed onto the kids' menu at a restaurant that seems to have one glaring problem. ?
Sharing the puzzle to Reddit, one woman has discovered, "'Roman' is nowhere to be found on the page."
Can you find it? No. No one can.
Because it isn't there.
The post was inundated with comments, with many adults declaring it a ploy to keep kids quiet. ?
"I guess the best way to keep kids busy with a word search is to make it impossible to finish," said one.
Another adult swiftly replied, "I used to work for one of the main companies that writes word searches for these menus. Clients would often request that a word be omitted for this exact reason."
WOW. Mind blown.
Many people were equally shocked.
"That's not cool at all," said another.
"Wonder if it has the unintended (or possibly intended) effect of keeping kids busier and therefore quiet for longer."
"Parents to kids: keep looking, it's gotta be there!?"
"It's how we teach children what it's like working a 9-5. Just look busy, and wait until it's time to eat or leave," joked another.
"It teaches children the disappointing realities of real life."
This maths question and the teacher who provided it are both wrong.
That's the consensus from the responses to this head-scratching ?equation.
"My daughter's homework. Teacher says that answer is two. I guess I don't understand the question," ?Reddit user Fitz_Fool captioned a post with a snap of a page from a maths book.
The comments came in thick and fast, numbering close to 2000.
"Does the question ask how many rhombi are needed?" one person asked.
"I just realised that was a hexagon and not a cube," another posed.
Another individual claimed the teacher was incorrect, but more likely the "test key is wrong".?
"As worded, the question asks how many rhombi are needed to form 6/3 (two wholes). The whole shape is NOT a rhombus, it is a hexagon," they wrote.
"The only correct answer is: "It takes 6 rhombi to form 2 hexagons".
"The question that would be correctly answered as "2" is some variation of: How many hexagons can be created from 6 rhombi.?"
We'll put our calculators away now.?
One dad has been left fuming over the reason their young child's homework was apparently marked 'wrong'.
He shared a photo of the offending homework activity to Reddit, keen to hear what other adults made of the teacher's strange act.?
"My kid's kindergarten teacher marked the answer as wrong because they didn't say the worksheet was fun," the confused parent wrote.
The worksheet consisted of eight statements, with ?the instruction to circle whether the statement is true or false.
The last statement reads: "This was fun"? to which the child gave the thumbs down.
The teacher was apparently not pleased?, marking it as incorrect.
Other adults immediately jumped on the post, equally baffled by the activity and the teacher's black mark. ?
"I'd be having a talk with that teacher," said one. "Kid should be allowed to have that opinion."
"I'm about to be 30 and I'd fail kindergarten," commented another.
"This is BS. What's the point of a true/false quiz if the questions are mostly subjective?" remarked a third.
Several teachers even weighed in. ?
"I teach English as Second Language to Kindergarteners and I'm so confused about what this worksheet is even testing."
"This is a terrible assignment with very little educational value," said another.
"As a teacher, don't even worry about what grades your kids get. At least not until high school. Let your kid know that their answer was an acceptable answer.
"Teach your kids that the teacher is not always right."?
One mum was left so confused by her son's English homework, ?she shared it to a parents' Facebook page for help.
"My son got sent this home from school. Prefixes," she wrote. "Hoping one of you smart bunch can help. He had to use them all but we can find where 'de' should go."
Many adults chimed in, equally as perplexed as poor mum.
"His name is deGeorge?"? joked one.
"De end?" laughed another.
"I'm an English teacher and have been staring at this for what feels like years! De shouldn't go anywhere. If you need to use all the prefixes, the question is wrong," said a third.
"Looks like a red herring to me. One to throw him off. Don't need to use it," agreed a fouth.
Others dismissed the entire concept of homework entirely.?
"Children do enough at school. Why homework? That's what I say."
In a follow-up comment, the mum clarified the correct solution.
"Thanks for all the comments guys... turns out you don't have to use them all It's been driving me mad for days?."
"Jesus it took 200 comments to figure this out," declared another mum.
When asking people whether they could complete homework set for a child in Kindergarten, the answer is usually yes without a moment's hesitation.
One parent however found themselves stumped by a homework activity requiring their child to write a word that matches the image on the page.
Posted to Reddit by a confused parent, the homework directions read out: "Tap out the word in the picture and write the sounds you hear."
The homework page was dedicated to the letter 'T', and with the child matching the word 'tub' to an image of a bath tub, 'ten' to an image of the number ?and 'top' to the image of a spinning top, the child ¨C and parent ¨C became stuck at the image of some rabbits playing in a pen.
Aside from those commenting on the beautiful handwriting accomplished by the young boy, many took to the comments to share their hilarious rendition of what they thought the answer should be.
"Too many damn rabbits," one wrote.
"Tast & Turious," another joked.
One serious attempt at solving the question received over 20,000 votes
"Has to be pet," they wrote.
"These kinds of worksheets try to make the last one more difficult by switching the sound of the letter to the end of the word to try and throw the kid off?."
"?Or Kit, Baby bunnies are kits," another suggested.
A brain teaser which can apparently only be solved by those with a high IQ, is leaving parents puzzled.
The math equation, featured on Freshers Live, needs to be solved within just 15 seconds to determine just how smart the challenger is.
"If you can solve this brain teaser in less time, then that's even better," the site reads.
The equation features a number of different fruits and number totals,? asking readers to figure out the individual value of each fruit alongside the total value of the sum of the fruit.
Give it a go to determine just how high your IQ may be, and check below for the answer.
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The first step is to determine the value of each fruit which starts by diving the first total value 15 by 3 (the number of mangoes added together). This equals 5.
Then minus 5 from the next total value 23 to get 18, and split that in two to figure out the value of the pear, which is 9.
Two pears equal 18 which means the pineapple is valued at 3, to equal the third total of 21.
Then totaling each fruit together, you get the final value.
5 + 9 + 3 = ?17
Did you get it right? And more importantly, how long did it take you?
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A seemingly simple algebra equation has sparked a fierce debate.
Posted to YouTube by MindYourDecisions, the equation has divided people into two firm camps as to the correct way to answer this.
The first, argues it should be solved using the PEDMAS method. Standing for parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division, using this method, you should first solve the equation in the brackets (1+2=3), before moving on to the division component.
This would then make it 6¡Â2(3). Due to the parenthesis around three, this should be multiplied making it 6¡Â2=3, 3x3=9.
However, those using the BIDMAS (brackets, indices, division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction) theory came up with the answer of one.
?While both methods use the addition component first, it veers into a different method from here, where it becomes 2x3=6, completed by dividing 6¡Â6 to equal one.
According to MindYourDecisions, the correct answer is nine, however they said there was 'some historical justification' for arriving at one. ?
The equation, which has been viewed more than 22 million times, has recently resurfaced to perplex a new cohort of viewers.
"I've got a whole damn Bachelor's degree in physics and I thought the answer was one," said one person.
"1960 we will have flying cars in the future. 2020: world debate over fifth grade math?s," joked another.
"Problems like these are extremely confusing and can lead to double-correct answers," added a third.
T?hankfully TV executive/director Jonathan Glazier was able to provide some insight into how the problem could be solved, and the correct answer.
Methodically working through the equation, he was able to determine the final answer was 114.
Though many were just as stumped by how he managed to solve this, as they were by the initial question.
"Feel the pain¡ I need to go back to school just so I can help my daughter with her homework," said one follower.
While another admitted: "I fly planes for a job, and this hurts."?
A question from a Year 5 maths exam has left adults stumped.
Posted to Reddit by a perplexed older brother, the test posed the following:
"?Klein read 30 pages of a book on Monday and 1/8 of the book on Tuesday.
"He completed the remaining 1/4 of the book on Wednesday.
"How many pages are in the book?"
Like many who saw the post online, their minds drew a blank about the same size as the empty box afforded for the answer.
"Damn, I don't know the answer but it must be a small book," one Reddit user wrote.
"I would fail fifth grade math," a second person wrote. "I don't get it at all even with explanations and I'm 30."
"And now we can all see why Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? worked as a game show," said another.
For others, the question compelled them to "show their work", sharing equations and reasons behind their answer.
For those following along at home, the number of pages in the book is 48.
While this maths problem may appear simple at first, it's left many adults confused. ?
Sky News (UK) presenter Anna Botting shared the ?problem on Twitter, which had been assigned to her 10-year-old daughter to solve.
The presenter, who despite having studied at both Oxford and Cardiff universities has never shied from her struggles with the subject, captioned a photo of the worksheet with: "My 10-year-old's homework had me stumped."?
The question reads:
"At the beginning of the day, Hasim counted his money. He gave his brother 1/3 of his money."
"He spen?t $12 ($20.75) on a present for his sister. He then counted what he had left, and it was half what he had at the beginning of the day. How much did he give his brother? Show your method.
Even a teacher weighed in, agreeing it was confusing.
"As a teacher, I can't honestly see the point of these highly convoluted maths problems, they just heighten anxiety, feelings of frustration and failure, and lets be honest are no practical use whatsoever," they argued.
While others felt the question was too advanced.
"That's a 10-year-old's homework? That's very difficult for Year 5!" said one.
While another said the question triggered maths anxiety.
"I went back 60 years and felt the rising panic reading this. At least I wasn't hit by flying chalk this time," they said.
Answers given by her followers ranged from six to 72, but luckily her daughter's teacher was able to share the answer, which is ?24 ($41.45).
Though for many of us, the solution is every bit as confusing as the question. ?
?"I still can't do it or even understand the method. I've just retired after a 40 year career as a dentist. Don't think my maths with prescriptions ever killed anyone¡" said one follower.
"I don't even understand it with the answer written down," admitted another.
Botting also shared another of her daughter's maths problems which gave her a headache.
?"Stumped on another one," she captioned a photo of the problem, posted to Twitter, which asked:
"There are 5 times as many pens in box A than box B. Tom moves 76 pens from box A to box B. Both boxes now have the same number of pens. How many pens are in box A now??"
Many of her followers offered up different answers, ranging from 76, to 95 up to 190.?
A parent has shared a head-scratching word search driving parents nuts.
"My kid's word search at a restaurant recently. See if you can find 'Tropical'," the parent challenged, sharing the picture on Reddit.
Did you find it? Well, you wouldn't. But you would find "propical" instead!? It starts diagonally from the first "P" in the first row.
Commenters chalked the confusion up to the fact that there are only nine letters in the top row, unlike the 10 in the other rows.
"Can't change the P to a T, because then you have tlantain instead of plantain," one observed.
"I'll give the creator a B for effort.?"
If you're not mathematically minded, you'll feel this one in your core.
One little boy was so stumped by the fractions questions in his homework, he decided to appeal to his teacher's kind nature in lieu of answering them.
To the first question, which presents him with three different fractions and asks if these showed whether three friends shared a chocolate bar equally, he simply admitted: "I don't know."
In a second, more complicated question about ?the area of a circle, he apologises for not knowing.
"Sorry, I don't know very much about fractions. I hope you (accept) my apology," he says, with a few attempts at spelling 'apology'.
Sharing the worksheet to Facebook his mum said he'd always hated maths.?
"The note to his teacher made me laugh so much tonight at parents evening," she said.
Many praised his honesty. "He's very polite," said one. "A+ for manners young man," agreed another.
?"I would have just cried at that question," joked another.
