05 April 2024 , 16:00
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Brits are pulling their hair out over a seemingly impossible maths question designed for teenagers.
Many of us haven't had to deal with equations since our schooldays - and no longer have to care about the value of x or the angle of a triangle. If Rishi Sunak gets his way, students will have to study maths until they're aged 18, a move that was branded 'staggeringly expensive and inefficient' by think tank The Social Market Foundation.
But out of curiosity (and perhaps ego) let's see if you could get this baffling question right. Otherwise, it might be time to dust off your uniform and get back into the classroom.
TikTok user 'Maths for the Mandem' is a maths and finance teacher who posts daily videos, helping students revise for their GCSE and A Level maths exams. In a recent post, the educator shared a question that is likely to appear in a 'higher' GCSE paper - and it's left us all feeling a little stumped.
All you have to do is make m the subjection from the following equation (and no, you can't use a calculator):
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(3m+2)/c = m + 1/a
"If you're sitting GCSE Maths this year, this is one of the hardest types of changing the subject that you might get," the teacher said. "We want to make m the subject, but it appears on both sides, so in two places and within fractions."
Can you solve the equation - or are you already giving up? Scroll down to the bottom of the article for the answer or watch the full video above.
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Viewers flocked to the comments section to share their views, with many expressing how difficult the question is. "Making a variable the subject is the only thing I don't understand, I swear," wrote one person.
Another agreed, commenting: "That factorising step gonna catch a lot of people out because everyone always forgets what to do." While a third joked: "Love these types of questions," with a crying face emoji.
Answer with working out for full marks:
a (3m + 2) = c (m+1)
3am + 2a = cm + c
3am -cm + 2a =c
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3am- cm =c -2a
m (3a-c) = c-2a
m= c-2a/3a-c