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Whats up with all the recent "simple math problems"?
Maybe I should make one too. Although I never was one for following trends much...

Anyway, here is your puzzle, enjoy.

28 + 32 = 35
25 + 49 = 39
21 + 46 = 42
18 + 14 = X

Can you find the value of X?

HINT

Added a new tag as a hint. Also do note that there is no math tags.

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  • $\begingroup$ another pattern: c - a = 7n where a + b = c for row n. $\endgroup$
    – micsthepick
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 0:26

5 Answers 5

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This is based on alalp's result but I think his explanation is unnecessarily complicated.

The answer is

$11$

Because

Forget about all the + and = signs. All we have is a grid of integers with 3 files and 4 rows.
If you start at the biggest number ($49$) and follow a spiral that expands counterclockwise, you hop from number to number with a repetitive -3/-4 pattern:
$49-3=46$, $46-4=42$, $42-3=39$, $39-4=35$, and so on.
At the end, $18-4=14$ and thus $14-3=11$.

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Is it

11

The rule is:

Consider a spiral. It starts from X, follow numbers clock-wise and ends at 49.

Here, the pattern is; every number can be divided by 7. At start (X), add 3, move next number (left), skip (don't add anything), move to next number, add 3
and so on.

28 + (32 + 3) = 35

(25 + 3) + 49 = (39 + 3)

21 + (46 + 3) = 42

(18 + 3) + 14 = (11 + 3)

Result is:

28 35 35

28 49 42

21 49 42

21 14 14

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    $\begingroup$ Your result is correct, but I am not sure I understand your reasoning, maybe you overthought it, it is not that complicated. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 2:12
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Is it:

-3. Because 28+32 = 60 - 25 => 35 ; 25+49 = 74- 35 => 39; 21+46 = 67 -25 =>42; 18 + 14 = 32 - 35 => -3. The difference 25 and 35 repeats the pattern.

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  • $\begingroup$ Not the solution to this puzzle, but thank you for trying. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 8:57
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Is it

44

I took the phrase "simple math problems" literally and ignored everything to the left of the equal sign:

28 + 32 = 35 (35 + 4 = 39)
25 + 49 = 39 (39 + 3 = 42)
21 + 46 = 42 (42 + 2 = 44)
18 + 14 = 44

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    $\begingroup$ Spoiler alert............... Add an exclamation after the > to mark it as spoiler $\endgroup$
    – Crazy Cucumber
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 19:49
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Don't have the enough rep to comment, so I'll just add it as an answer. I didn't find the answer at least I just tried to reason why the first answer could be correct. i.e. 11.

My thinking is based on lateral and pattern as the user said to look at the tags for hints. According to that we don't have a certain pattern to it exactly I just tried to see it differently. I don't consider it a pattern but just pairing up.

We have:

$28 + 32 = 35 \qquad [ 7\cdot4 \qquad + 7\cdot5-3 = 7\cdot5]$

$25 + 49 = 39 \qquad [ 7\cdot4-3 \; + 7\cdot7 \quad~~ = 7\cdot6-3]$

$21 + 46 = 42 \qquad [ 7\cdot3 \qquad + 7\cdot7-3 = 7\cdot6]$

$18 + 14 = X \qquad [ 7\cdot3-3 ~\, + 7\cdot2 \quad~~ = 7\cdot2-3]$


Taking pairings up and down along with the sideways we have 12 numbers so 6 pairings in all, mentioned below.
$7\cdot4~~$ & $~~7\cdot4-3~~$ (up and down)

$7\cdot5~~$ & $~~7\cdot5-3~~$ (sideways first row)

$7\cdot7~~$ & $~~7\cdot7-3~~$ (up and down)

$7\cdot6~~$ & $~~7\cdot6-3~~$ (up and down)

$7\cdot3~~$ & $~~7\cdot3-3~~$ (up and down) & the last pair

$7\cdot2~~$ & $~~7\cdot2-3~~$ (sideways) that's because the last number remaining was $7\cdot2$ (14 only) and could be paired up with $7\cdot2-3$ i.e. (11)

Since the answer 11 was deemed to be correct by the user, I'm not sure how the person who answered came up with it or why he came up with 11 only. There seems to be no indication as such where 11 could be concluded that way.

Note to the questioner: Since I didn't come up with the answer and it's just a mere speculation please don't mark it as correct. I didn't had the considered rep for commenting otherwise this would just have been split into comments. Thanks.

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    $\begingroup$ (Using e.g. 7.5 when you mean $7\cdot5$ is very confusing to read. I fixed this for you.) $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Commented Mar 2, 2018 at 5:36
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry that was the multiplier, I don't know what /cdot stands for or means. 7.5 simply meany 7*5 or 7X5. I think it's looking more confusing now. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Anderson
    Commented Mar 2, 2018 at 6:20

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