Fiendish maths puzzle leaves thousands baffled – but the answer is so simple

Reckon you're an A-star student when it comes to maths?

Social media users have been left baffled by a maths puzzle which involves a theft from a cash register. Thousands tried it on X, formerly known as Twitter, but they're struggling.

The problem was posted online by user @NoContextHumans which attached the image of the maths question. So do you think you can solve it?

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You can try some optical illusions here.

It starts with a handwritten note on the paper which reads: "A man steals a $100 from a store's register. Then he buys $70 worth of goods at that store using the $100 bill and gets $30 change. How much money did the store lose?"

The post went viral with over 108,000 likes and 9,200 retweets. While the question might seem straightforward, it didn't stop X users from debating what the "right" answer could be.

One said: "The amount of money was 30 but the also lost 70 worth of merchandise." While another added: "$200. The original $100, then $70 worth of groceries, and the additional $30 change."

But the top reply appears to be the most popular answer. They wrote: "The store lost $100. Then they got that $100 back. So far store lost $0. But, then the store had to give back $30 in change.

"So, the store lost $30 for sure. Store also lost $70 worth of goods. So, the store ultimately lost = $30 in cash + $70 in goods = $100 total."

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Lots of people agreed, as one posted: "Any other answer apart from $100 is very very wrong." Although others weren't convinced.

A person proclaimed: "Not enough info. Depends upon cost of goods sold, and whether they reported it to their insurance company. Profit = Revenue minus costs. Assuming the perp walked out with the $70 item and the $30, ostensibly it's $100.

"But the $70 item didn't actually cost the store $70, presumably. So they lost $30 plus whatever cost basis they had for the $70 item. Add in net present value of insurance rate hike."

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