An unsolvableChinese math exam questionhas lead the Internet slightly throw , but others are hail its approach to vital cerebration .
The interrogation , snap from a grade five exam newspaper for 11 - year - old , was posted on the Chinese social media land site Weibo . It asks : “ If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 Capricorn the Goat onboard , how one-time is the ship ’s captain ? ”
It prompted a range ofconfused responsesfrom children assay to answer it . One gave up , suppose : " The captain ’s eld is … I do n’t lie with . I ca n’t figure out this . " Others aver :
“ The captain should be at least 18 years sure-enough because a nestling is not allowed by law to operate on a vessel . ”
“ The maitre d’hotel is 36 , because 26 + 10 is 36 and the police captain wanted them to sum up up to his geezerhood . ”
“ The routine of the sheep and goats is irrelevant to the skipper ’s geezerhood . ”
“ The captain is 36 year onetime . He is quite narcissistic , so the routine of animal corresponds to his age . ”
Users on Weibo and Twitter questioned whether the school , identified as Nanchong Shunqing Primary School , was right to set such a question . However , in astatement , the Shunqing Education Department said the test was aimed to examine “ critical awareness and an ability to consider severally . ”
They added that some surveys “ show that average elementary shoal students in our country miss the sense of incertitude and critical spirit in regard to maths . ”
As theBBC note , Chinese Department of Education relies heavily on note - taking and repeating . But questions like this further originative and decisive mentation . On Weibo , one somebody even came up with a pretty clever answer .
“ The total weighting of 26 sheep and 10 goat is 7,700 kg , based on the average weight of each animal , ” they said . “ In China , if you ’re driving a ship that has more than 5,000 kg of lading you involve to have possessed a boat license for five years . The minimal historic period for getting a sauceboat ’s licence is 23 , so he ’s at least 28 . ”
However , that answer is adopt each sheep or goat weighs more than 200 kilogram ( 440 pound ) – but they ’re really about half that . presumptively , then , the captain would only have to be 23 or over , as they ’d just need a sauceboat license .
The education section say it would continue to set such questions in the futurity . And , well , good for them . The enquiry seems middling fun and harmless , and surely did trip quite a lot of thinking and discourse .
