it was set as a maths problem, aimed at testing the logical reasoning skills of 14 year olds in singapore but the question went viral after people across the world were left completely baffled the problem, which tests logical reasoning, has been shared thousands of times online as people have tried to pose their best explanations of what at first appears to be an impossible question a maths question set for 14 year olds has left people across the world baffled as they try to solve the puzzle  the test was set for 14 year olds in the singapore and asian schools math olympiad the olympiad often features logical reasoning questions and are set to test top achievers katie chrystler tweeted: ‘if cheryl makes it this hard to find out when her birthday is, she’s not going to get many gifts’ david leong joked: ‘cheryl obviously didn’t want albert and bernard at her party should have taken the hint when cheryl decided to play this little game’ one man in london said: ‘i did not have a bleeding clue! i wish i were as clever to answer something like this but my brain just doesn’t work like that’ the test asked:  albert and bernard just became friends with cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is cheryl gives them a list of 10 possible dates may 15, may 16,  may 19  june 17, june 18  july 14, july 16  august 14, august 15, august 17  cheryl then tells albert and bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively albert: i don’t know when cheryl’s birthday is, but i know that bernard does not know too bernard: at first i don’t know when cheryl’s birthday is, but i know now albert: then i also know when cheryl’s birthday is so when is cheryl’s birthday? organisers of sasmo said the question was set to filter out the most intelligent of participants  at first the question appears impossible to answer without a bit of extra information, but we know cheryl has already told albert the month of her birthday, and bernard the day each of the men does not know what the other has been told this allows reasoning to be used to begin to whittle down the number of options so, firstly, for albert to be 'certain' that bernard cannot know the answer   as suggested in the first statement he makes   we can deduct that the birthday is not in may or june this is because in the months of may and june there are numbers (dates) that only occur once across the four months   namely may 19 and june 18 if albert had been given may or june as the month, there is no way he could be certain that bernard doesn't know the birthday bernard, after all, might have been the number 18 or 19 for albert to be 'certain' that bernard doesn't know, albert must have been given a month that does not contain one of these 'unique' dates   ie july or august albert's disclosure now gives bernard the clue he needs, and says he now knows the birthday bernard only knows the number of cheryl’s birthday, but from albert’s statement he has now also ruled out both may and june this is because he realises albert has ruled out may and june because of the 'single number' aspect above so there are now just five remaining dates   july 14, july 16, aug 14, aug 15, aug 17   and bernard says he knows which is the birthday because he now knows the date, we can whittle it down further to three dates by ruling out the numbers that appear in duplicate at first, the question appears impossible top answer without more information, but here's how to work it out  if cheryl had told bernard that her birthday fell on the 14th of the month, then he could not have worked out the date at this stage however, as he states that he now knows the date, we can rule out july 14 or august 14 this leaves just three dates to chose from   july 16, aug 15 and aug 17 following bernard's statement, albert is then apparently able to deduce the date of cheryl's birthday this means her birthday must be the only remaining date in the month he was originally told given that there are two dates left in august and one in july, it has to be the july date so the answer is july 16 the problem was posted on facebook by ‘hello singapore’ television presenter kenneth kong, and went viral as people posted their various solutions to the problem it was set for 14 year olds in the singapore and asian schools math olympiads (sasmo), which were held on april 8 this year around 28,000 students from countries across the world including singapore, thailand, vietnam, china and the uk took the test henry ong, executive director of sasmo, told mothershipsg: 'being q24 out of 25 questions, this is a difficult question meant to sift out the better students sasmo contests target the top 40% of the student population and the standards of most questions are just high enough to stretch the students' of course, perhaps the more important question is whether cheryl deserves a birthday gift at all after putting us through all of this
14 year olds singapore asian teaser
a maths problem for 14 year olds has baffled people across the world . question uses logical reasoning and aims to sift out the most intelligent . it was set in the singapore and asian schools maths olympiads (sasmo). teaser appeared as number 24 out of 25 questions to test students 