This simple algebra equation is the latest brainteaser, that baffled the internet.
The puzzle with horses, boots and horseshoe, is tricky.
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The answers to the ‘seemingly’ easy formula varied.
Farther down is the answer…
The first equation shows that the value of a horse is 10.
The second, featuring two horseshoes and a horse, is 4.
The third, tells us that the cowboy boot is 2.
And finally the answer is 1 + (10×2) = 21.
No. The first line shows us that a horse is worth 10 (3 horses = 30)
The second line shows us that a PAIR of horseshoes is worth 4 (a horse, 10 + 2 pairs of horseshoes =18)
The third line shows that a PAIR of boots = 2 (1 pair of horseshoes, 4, – 1 pair of boots = 2)
But lines two and three both deal in pairs. No value has been explicitly assigned to a single horseshoe, or a single boot, but since the pairs consist of identical objects, we can deduce that a single horseshoe has half the value of a pair of horseshoes, and similarly a single boot has half the value of a pair of boots.
Line fours shows only 1 boot (half of 2) plus 1 horse (10) times only one horseshoe (half of 4)
So 1 + 10 x 2.
I see above that the equation should be read 1 + (10 x 2). I read it (1 + 10) X 2. But looking up PEMDAS it does say that multiplication outranks arithmetic, rather than simply working left to right as I was taught (or at least allowed) as a kid.