Math was never really my thing. I was more into daydreaming and literature than numbers. But then, I discovered the beauty of numbers, and suddenly, they started making sense.

And it seems I’m not alone in this newfound appreciation for math, especially when it comes to intriguing puzzles that get people talking. There’s this math problem that has been causing quite a stir online recently. It first appeared in 2016, but it’s back, stirring up quite the discussion.

At first glance, the puzzle seems simple enough, but it’s actually tripping up a lot of people. The confusion seems to stem from an outdated method that many of us learned in school. To solve this problem, you need to remember the order of operations.

Most of us were taught this with acronyms like PEDMAS or BODMAS, or the classic “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” This means we tackle parentheses first, then exponents, followed by multiplication and division, and finally, addition and subtraction.

So, the first step is to deal with the parentheses. This part is easy and doesn’t cause much disagreement. But it’s the next step that really divides people. Modern scientific calculators interpret the parentheses as an implicit multiplication. Since multiplication and division have equal importance in the order of operations, we simply work from left to right.

After following these steps, we arrive at our answer. But here’s where it gets interesting: a lot of people insist that the answer is 1, not 9. The MindYourDecisions YouTube channel explains that before 1917, the order of operations was understood differently. Back then, if you encountered a division symbol, you would divide the entire left side by the entire right side.

This historical method changes the game. You would calculate the product on the right side first. MindYourDecisions suggests that this old rule was likely due to typesetting limitations. It was easier to use a division symbol than to write out long fractions or add multiple parentheses.

So, while the correct answer by today’s standards is 9, there is a historical argument for the answer being 1. The MindYourDecisions video on this topic has racked up more than 11 million views. It goes to show that even a simple math problem can spark a big discussion.

Check out the unexpectedly intriguing explanation in the video below! And don’t forget to share this with your friends and family.