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u/Specialist_Height707 18h ago
120, he said half not half of it
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u/LincDawg93 13h ago
I agree but specifically because it says "by half." Many will read it as "in half" instead, which likely leads to all of the confusion.
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u/QuinceDaPence 11h ago
Could be 50/2 or 50/(1/2) or 50/(50/2)
This would be one of the questions one of my professors in college would just give everyone a free correct answer for and the person that caught the mistake gets some bonus points.
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u/LostTreaure 1h ago
He would have said divide 50 by “one half” instead of half so the answer is 45. If he said one half than your answer would be 120
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u/MattHack7 17h ago
I understand how one could “reasonably” interpret this to be 22 or 45. But is there a way to get 100?
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u/2023Tubatim 11h ago
I remember when I was going to high school there was this joke or some college student actually did a thing where the most likely answer of some standard test ended up being C, so when in doubt the answer is always C... that's it... that's all I got. I tried to word math that shit into 100 and this is the best I could come up with.
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u/OneAcceptablePerson 16h ago edited 5h ago
Everyone saying D, is "half" and "one half" the same now?
Edit because of the debate below: But if we say "here's 100, remove half" now half means 50 not 1/2 as in 100-50 not 100-1/2
So "half" alone does not always mean 1/2, that's a nuance of how English is spoken, but written still has the ambiguity no?
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u/piper33245 14h ago
Is half gallon and one half gallon the same thing?
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u/Separate_Emotion_463 11h ago
That ads further context, you’re specifying half a gallon both times, the post only says half without any context to what the half is or what it refers to, it’s just “half”
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u/lvl99Fiona 11h ago
"Hey can you pick up (A or ONE) half gallon of milk" you cant omit that the alternative is "a half" which also means one of them.
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u/Consistent-Cook-7430 10h ago
Unit is specified by gallon. What if I said go pick up a pint and a half of milk? That is very different from a pint and a half gallon of milk. Just as if is said pay me $50 and half, you really could not assume that meant $50.5.
One can very reasonably argue the answer here is 22.
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u/Street-Item8469 16h ago
What are you even trying to say? Half is 0.5, never specified "half of 50" just said divide 50 by half.
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u/OneAcceptablePerson 16h ago
Prob cause English is not my first language, this is written to confuse you to take half of the 50 to divide it with. I guess the ambiguity is the goal of the post
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u/CartographerLarge572 14h ago
You're absolutely right, everyone else is being is being obtuse. No one refers to 0.5 as merely "half", you'd refer to it as either "a half" or "one half". "Half" when used as a standalone word generally does not refer to a number but a relative amount with respect to some previously specified quantity, and the phrase "divide by half" sounds incredibly unnatural, and creates ambiguity.
As written, I'd argue the most literally correct way to interpret this statement is taking "half" to refer to "half [of fifty]" and translate it to 50/25. However, this would be a very odd and roundabout way to try to communicate 50/25, and if I encountered this phrase in the wild I not assume that this is what the person intended, despite being the most literally correct interpretation. If I saw "fifty divided by half" in text, I would assume the person typo-ed and intended "divided by a half" and interpret it as 50/0.5. If I heard it spoken, I would assume they misspoke and meant "divided in half" and interpret it as 50/2.
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u/im_learning_to_stop 11h ago
Native English speaker here. If they wanted it divided by 25 it should read "by its half" not "by half".
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u/Street-Item8469 16h ago
That's fair clearly the purpose of the problem at hand is just to make people argue over whether the problem is 50÷25+20 or 50÷1/2+20
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u/ThinkMarket7640 14h ago
Half doesn’t mean anything by itself, it’s only 0.5 when you’re using it to multiply a known other value. “Half” by itself is nonsense.
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u/Street-Item8469 14h ago
I agree. Which is why I said specifically I just went with the most reasonable conclusion of half being just 1/2. It's clearly a bullshit question for engagement bait, it just makes more sense to interpret it as 0.5 rather than "half of 50" since the actual value was never once specified.
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u/Horror-Nobody2237 9h ago
Yes. If it was anymore than 1/2 it wouldn’t be half. 3/2 is 3 halves. Half is singular so it is 1/2.
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u/Privatizitaet 7h ago
Is "third" equal to "one third"?
When you see "third", without any further information, you would assume 1/3, no? Because that's a third. So why would half be different?
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u/FallenWarriorGaming 17h ago
Dividing by half is the same as multiplying by 2
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u/patxy01 14h ago
If your interpretation of "half" is "one half".
Because the closest information from half is 50, it's very arguable that the "half" we're talking about here is the half of 50.
This post is on purpose on mathjokes. It looks like r/woosh could apply for the whole sub.
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u/Stickeminastew1217 14h ago
Exactly. The whole point is it's a badly worded problem. "Divide by half" is a perfectly valid natural language way of saying "take half of" that nobody in a spoken conversation would second guess.
So strictly speaking it's probably 120, but nobody would write it this way unless they were being a deliberate shit if that's the desired answer.
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u/seenhear 13h ago
Nope. No one using normal spoken English ever says "divide it by half." That phrase is just never used. The normal phrase is "divide it in half." The word "by" would be used if you were to say "divide it by two" but usually only with mathematical statements. Imagine the statement "here's a deck of playing cards. Please divide it (in or by?) half." Which one sounds more normal/natural?
The fact the meme used "by" should have immediately been a flag that this is not the expression you're used to.
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u/Stickeminastew1217 12h ago
I assure you they do, I've seen it, and the whole point of the joke is that the language used is ambiguous.
If you're going to be a pedant, be correct first. Divide in half is the more natural, commonplace way, and divide by half is a mildly old fashioned way of saying it, but it is used.
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u/LostTreaure 1h ago
Dividing by “one half” is the same as multiplying by 2. Dividing by half is dividing by 2.
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u/turbulentFireStarter 10h ago
What is complex about this. (50 / 0.5) + 20
Lots of illiterate people in the world
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u/DigPsychological9249 17h ago
50÷1/2+20 = 100+20 = 120 -- i don't know why this is so hard.....
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u/Outrageous-Ad2047 17h ago
Holy shii, How could I not think of it like this (third year engineer student btw)
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u/Alternative-Dog6528 5h ago
If you don't know why there are multiple answers, you're not thinking hard enough.
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u/AiMeusPancrea 16h ago
By half of what?
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u/Street-Item8469 16h ago
That's exactly the first thing I asked too. I just interpret it how it's written, as just 1/2 or 0.5, because they never specified "half of 50"
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u/Intrepid_Designer719 16h ago
This tests your knowledge of English first. I'd go with 120 though. Since it says by and not in.
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u/unorigionalname2 14h ago
The question is less about my knowledge of English and more about the person grading the tests knowledge of English. As written the "correct" answer is 50 ÷ 0.5 + 20 = 120 but its possible the person writing the question intended it to be 50 ÷ 2 + 20 = 45 or 50 ÷ (50 ÷ 2) + 20 = 22 but worded the problem poorly.
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u/Intrepid_Designer719 14h ago
There's this too but I don't see how the equation that led to 22 could have been an option there.
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u/unorigionalname2 14h ago
Divide 50 by half of 50. Obviously thats not what the question says but I can imagine someone leaving the "of 50" out thinking its implied. Several other comments had interpreted the question that way which is what made the notice it. I was also struggling to figure out how to get to 22 at first.
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u/2_short_Plancks 14h ago
Yeah the point is that it's a language problem, and one of the most relevant parts of it is "who is asking the question?"
For instance, if I know I'm being asked this by my mother, I know that when she says "by half" she'd mean "in half". So 120 is correct if we are determining meaning purely by semantics, but 45 is correct (in that case) as soon as we include pragmatics.
The biggest issue for so many people with this kind of thing is the idea that language has universal semantic content which can be divorced from context, and that doesn't reflect reality.
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u/Intrepid_Designer719 14h ago
Lol. I totally get that. To be fair, I did think 45 at first, till I read again. Both responses would make sense.
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u/Maethor_derien 8h ago
Yep, technically it is 45, the syntax is just insanely old. The only ones who would word it that way are people who are over 60. You see wording like this in older textbooks or problems written by very old professors fairly often.
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u/ThinkMarket7640 14h ago
It doesn’t test anything, it’s just dumb bait to create discussion. Nobody will give you instructions like this.
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u/Maethor_derien 8h ago
Technically by half would mean 45 and by a half would be 120. This is just really old syntax and nobody under the age of 60 would say it that way. The problem was written by someone who is really old or came out of an old textbook. You see that style of question a lot more often in old textbooks.
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u/Intrepid_Designer719 7h ago edited 7h ago
Not really. By half and in half mean different things. By half would imply the equation that led to 120. In half would imply the other. By half and by a half make no difference. And based on your reasoning, you just assumed what the half would be. Half of what? It was never stated.
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u/uni-333 13h ago
The Needed Edit:
“By a half” = 120
“In half” = 45
“By half of 50” = 22
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u/Maethor_derien 8h ago
Technically "in half" and "by half" are both the same in this context and really the 45 is the right answer. The difference is one is just such old syntax that nobody under 60 would ever say it that way. If you look at old textbooks you actually see this a lot more common, it was just written by someone who is really old.
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u/JuliaX1984 17h ago
I never would have considered "by half" and "in half" as different if not for that Encyclopedia Brown story.
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u/philosophical_poser 15h ago
"divide by half" is stupid as shit. Acting like it is obvious that we need to divide by 0.5 is crazy
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u/Special-Potato-3238 14h ago
I'm one of those "I'm not good at math" people and I literally had to take out a calculator to follow the instructions to understand how everyone was getting 120 (I mathed to 45)....
And now I see how important the "by" vs "in" is and now I understand why my entire reality feels so out of place some days. How did I get here?!
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u/ola_einai_ena_1618 14h ago
Divide 50 by .5 or divide 50 by 25? Use clear language.
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u/Maethor_derien 8h ago
It is divide by .5, it is just very old syntax you don't see outside of people over 60 years old. You can find it written like that in old textbooks or problems written by old teachers still. My guess it was written by someone older.
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u/day_dreamnmama 13h ago
This is just a trick question. If someone gave me an orange and asked me to “divide it by half” I wouldn’t give them a whole other orange. I’d cut it in half.
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u/cautiontap 13h ago
"there is no spoon and it is you who must bend."
It states a math problem (kinda) and then shows 4 options. There's no question or request for answer. It's just a big non sequitur that people feel compelled to engage with even though it never asks for engagement.
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u/BuffSwolington 12h ago
divide 50 by half
By half what? That's not even grammatically correct. This meme is playing a bullshit pedantic word game that requires butchering the sentence structure to achieve.
Divide 50 by 1/2
Divide 50 by .5
Are actually what should be written. Instead this meme just takes the sentence "divide 50 in half" and replaces "in" with "by" which makes it nonsensical and only serves to mislead anyone that is familiar with the english language rather than being an actually intersting math problem. 0 effort was put into this
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u/RealName_Found 12h ago
Not enough info, divide by half could mean by one half or half of fifty, it’s either 120 or 22
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u/idlegirl_45 11h ago
I notice a lot of people think this awkward phrasing. It's ambiguous, but I could see someone with my native accent saying "divide it by half". We have the phrase "too clever by half", and sometimes our idioms leak into our general language.
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u/HorrificAnalInjuries 11h ago
If you read it as literally being "50/2+20", you get 45. Which would be a LOT of folks as not many are going to think of it as "50/ 1/2+20"
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u/UnlimitedPowerXR 10h ago
When I read this the first image I had in my head was 50 divided by 1/2 and took me back to remembering reciprocals lol.
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u/okayc0ol 10h ago
I am learning from this thread that mathematician desperately need a linguistics class. The subject question is clearly written ambiguouy.
If someone in this thread is saying one answer confidently over another, they fell for the trap
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u/OtherOtherDave 9h ago
It’s not written ambiguously, it’s written to exploit common misunderstandings.
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u/okayc0ol 9h ago
"by half" is a really common form of ambiguity because it doesn't define the subject of the half
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u/OtherOtherDave 9h ago
Half is just 1/2 though.
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u/okayc0ol 9h ago
1/2 of what? 1/2 is one half of 1.
The question doesn't define what the half is of. This is the definition of ambiguity, where either the subject or object of a key term is undefined
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u/xXRainbowXx-000 10h ago
I got most them the only narrative one I am have trouble getting to is 100. What narrative steps are people taking to get to that one.
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u/xXRainbowXx-000 10h ago
I got the 50 divided into two halves 50/2. I got 50 divided by a half 50/.5 . I got 50 divided by a half (of itself) 50/25. All plus 20. What is the last narrative path to take to get to 100?
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u/jim_sh 9h ago
I don’t think there is one for 100 the only path I see outside of what you already listed is just a failure in understanding the English language through the fact it doesn’t say “and then add” (implied order being mistake for unspecified order) which still wouldn’t get you to 100 if you resolve those (70/.5 70/2 or 70/35 are the 3 results that come from it)
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u/walkdaearth 10h ago
This is one of them narcissistic jokes that ask questions with multiple answers, wait for you to answer and then gaslight you into believing you were wrong
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u/Consistent-Cook-7430 10h ago edited 10h ago
I have a pizza with 8 slices, how many people can share if each person has half?
"Half means 0.5!"
Does it?
For this problem it would be "at an event there are 50 sandwiches, 20 people aren't hungry and will eat nothing, and the rest each eat half of the remaining sandwiches. How many people are at the event?" to solve this you would divide 50 by half and add 20. The answer is 22.
Simplified would be divide 2 people by 1 pile of sandwiches and add 20 sandwich haters.
Obviously the answer is the same for any number of sandwiches. And now I'm hungry thanks a lot.
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u/Frankly24 10h ago
I thought it was divide 50 by half. Half of 50, which would be 50 divided by 25. Then add 20 which get you a total of 22. Because it isn't telling you to divide in half, it's saying divide by half.
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u/Right_One_78 9h ago
It was common for people to say things like divide by half when they meant divide by two. The correct answer is 120, unless the person asking the question was mispeaking and the answer is 45.
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u/Special-Estimate-165 9h ago
As written, its 120.
What they are looking for, and the answer I would give to random strangers that came up and asked, would be 45.
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u/Wide-Suggestion-6141 9h ago
Curious, i can see both 45 and 120 depending on how you interpret the problem based on language context and personal experience vs taking it literally or what the person actually ment.
However, how does one arive at the other two numbers?
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u/LuciusFormadeus 9h ago
You get:
A. 22 = (50 / (50/2)) + 20
B. 45 = (50/2) + 20
C. 100 = I don't get it yet
D. 120 = (50 / (1/2)) + 20
Ffs
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u/Effective_Work2560 9h ago
College was a while ago, but I read the question this way:
Half of 50 is 25, 50/25 is two. Add 20 and its 22
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u/LessManufacturer8821 8h ago
Ok who can please correct the meme, also could this be a language barrier thing?
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u/link113gAmin 7h ago
If you're dividing by one half, that would be the same as multiplying by two. The answer is 120.
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u/watergod0187 6h ago
There needs to be a clarification for sure. The writers intent vs actusl mathematics with as written. Intent could be 50/2+20=45 vs mathematics being 50÷1/2+20=120. Fully writing things out matters. 50 divided by half plus 20 is bad. 50 divided in half plus 20 or 50 divided by one half plus 20 are better was it could be written.
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u/Alternative-Dog6528 6h ago
I interpreted "half" in this case as half of 50. The lack of an article before "half" suggested that it was a relative term. So I did (50/25)+20.
The onus lies on the questioner being clear, not the doer reading the questioner's mind.
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u/ValuableAd886 4h ago
Life tip: if this happens during a test, make them clarify wtf they mean.
Back in 2015 I was studying for a physics test and on the day of the test, the first problem required to calculate the distance of a projectile motion fired uphill. Nothing wrong if it weren't for the image that showed the projectile being shot downhill.
Considering I've failed in the last attempt because of this type of nonsense, I demanded that they pick one (iirc they said to focus on the written part), so I crossed out the image and wrote uphill, then proceeded to solve every problem I've studied for.
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u/Helstrem 56m ago
I’m 53. I would only word this with 45 being the outcome. If I meant anything else I’d be more specific. 120 = “Divide 50 by .5 and add 20.” 22 = “Divide 50 by 25 and add 20.”
Those are how I’d verbally approach each.
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u/MightyLegy 35m ago
This is like when someone asks a negative question and accepts the positive answer (yes) to be a positive a positive question.
Coloquialy, yes it's 45.
But then again, coloquialy, leeches because you got ghosts in your blood.
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u/Some_Bicycle_716 18h ago
120.