• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Maths equation only 'true genius' can solve in 30 seconds

Home> News> Tech News

Published 09:41 25 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Maths equation only 'true genius' can solve in 30 seconds

Are you the next Albert Einstein?

Tom Chapman

Tom Chapman

There are different ways to measure intelligence, and while Marilyn vos Savant has the highest recorded IQ at 228, William James Sidis was reported to have an IQ of up to 300. IQ tests weren't around in Leonardo da Vinci's days, but many believe he could've had the highest of all time.

Even though IQ tests are all the rage in 2025, there's a debate around the likes of emotional intelligence and Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposing that there are actually eight different types of intelligence.

According to one viral math problem, only a 'true genius' can solve it in 30 seconds or less. Math can be used for a whole number of things, with someone claiming they've used it to win the lottery 14 times, and a Harvard scientist saying it can be used to prove the existence of God.

Do you fancy yourself as the next Marilyn vos Savant? (X/ R.H. Study Zone)
Do you fancy yourself as the next Marilyn vos Savant? (X/ R.H. Study Zone)

Advert

Now, The Mirror has pitched this brain-scratching brain teaser and given wannabe Lisa Simpsons just 30 seconds to solve it. The puzzle was originally shared by @RHSTUDYZONE, asking you to figure out the answer to the equation and work out 4 x y if we know that x + y = 3 and that x - y = 1. It seems straightforward, but as the clock ticks, it's not as simple as you might think.

It might not be as hard as the math problem one genius turned down $1 million after he solved, but keep reading to find out the elusive answer.

Drumroll...the answer is 8.

It seems some of you will have to be ripping up your Mensa applications because the replies to the original tweet had many thinking the solution is (incorrectly) 4.

Advert

As The Mirror adds, the working out explains:



  • X = 1 + Y.
  • 1 + Y + Y = 3.
  • 2Y = 2.
  • Y = 1.
  • X + 1 = 3.
  • X = 2
  • 4 * 2 * 1 = 8.

The question is, could the man who became a math genius due to a brain injury solve the math problem? One person who might be able to is child genius Jacob Young, who in 2024, was accepted into Mensa as its youngest member ever. Aged just five at the time, Young scored in the top 1% of the world's largest and oldest IQ society.

Speaking to KKTV, Young's mom said that his favorite topics include airplanes, sharks, deep space, and the Titanic, but his curiosity goes far beyond that as he demands to know how planes work and which sharks are the fastest.

Advert

Renee Young added: "He watches documentaries with us. He loves the History Channel. The conversations are like what you might have in a high school or college class, but it’s with our five-year-old at the dinner table."

The doctor testing Jacob apparently suggested they the family start looking for specialist schools or even consider Mensa to help him meet 'like-minded peers' who could help "challenge him outside the school setting."

Mensa has around 150,000 members in 90 countries, but with only those scoring in the top 2% qualifying, Young outshone most after he took the several-hour-long test. Now, see if he can solve the algebra equation.

Featured Image Credit: Hulton Archive / Stringer / Getty
Tech News

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

10 hours ago
11 hours ago
15 hours ago
  • 10 hours ago

    Elon Musk has chilling warning for future of America following latest Senate draft bill

    The Trump vs Musk feud is back

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Fire safety experts urge drivers to remove these three items from their cars immediately

    To save your tech and maybe even your vehicle

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Rare earth minerals discovered on 353,785-acre Texas ranch could power everything from smart phones to military weapons

    The discovery was made on state-owned land

    Science
  • 15 hours ago

    Shocking amount of money Jeff Bezos donated to Venice ahead of controversial $50,000,000 wedding

    With tons of big guests in attendance

    News
  • How one man’s brain injury turned him into an accidental maths genius
  • ‘Genius’ rejected $1,000,000 cash prize after finally one of the most difficult maths problems in the world
  • The world's second richest man once sued Google for $9,000,000,000 in historic lawsuit
  • The iPhone 16 Pro Max can charge quicker than ever but only if you do it right