'Impossible' Harvard brainteaser which 90 percent of people fail

An 'impossible' Harvard has beaten 90% of people who try and beat it

It shows the famous US university's letterhead followed by a maths question which is written in red and black ink. It asks: "If there are seven men with seven wives and each man and each wife have seven children, what is the total number of people?" The question is difficult enough, but it confuses people further because it has two .

It emerged on the internet in 2021, but has come back and stumped more players who each came up different responses. They ranged from 21 people to as high as 448. Astonishingly one person claimed the answer could be higher still ]at 700 people, but there was no attempt to explain how the figure was reached. "This is all word play" said one commenter. "There are several answers and not one is wrong unless you don't get the math right."

The issue of question interpretation emerged again as people questioned if each man has one wife, the correct answer would be 63. But if each man has seven wives, the answer is 392. Another user said: "This is ambiguous, which I guess is the point 'But let's assume that there are just seven couples (seven men and seven wives), which equals 14 people. Each couple had seven kids, so that is 7x7=49 kids. Add 'em up and it is 63 people."

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The debate continued using the premise of each man having seven wives. People suggested that t399 people could be reached by multiplying seven by seven to get 49 wives and adding to seven men. But if each of the 49 wives has seven children, it comes to 343 and if each man has seven children, that would come to 49, equaling 392 people. Mathematica puzzles are vital as they force people to analyse information and consider responses which arise from different points of view.

It reveals how they break down problems into smaller, manageable steps and whether they utilise out-of-the-box thinking. But if you were one of the many people who were off the mark, you should be reassured that you're not alone. The which remerged reputedly came from Harvard University in the US.

told earlier how another left people scratching their heads as it challenged them to work out what the next number should be in a truly baffling sequence. Giving the brain a is useful for this because in can help boost cognitive function and improve sharpness of mind. Doing brainteasers also helps stave off long-term health conditions such as dementia. as we get older and allows us to keep our cognitive parts of our brain in order.

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