Can YOU solve this 10 year old’s math homework? Sky News’ Anna Botting shares her daughter’s homework

Sky News presenter Anna Botting was “surprised” by another math homework question from her daughter.

The Oxford-educated hostess turned to her 32,000 Twitter followers for help with the latest head scratch her 10-year-old brought home.

In response to Rishi Sunak’s pledge to make math compulsory for all students up to the age of 18, adults have been sharing math quizzes for children online and Ms Botting shared another last week following the Prime Minister’s announcement.

The math homework Sky News’ Anna Botting needed help to solve

Sky News presenter Anna Botting took to Twitter to ask for help with her 10-year-old daughter’s math homework, which she left “surprised”.

So MailOnline asks, can you do a 10 year old’s math homework?

The math question clearly kept the Sky News presenter up all night at 10am when she tweeted for help at 3.15am this morning.

“Stomp on another… (they haven’t been taught algebra yet)… #mathshelp,” she tweeted.

What is the question?

There are 5 times as many pins in field A than in field B.

Tom moves 76 pins from box A to box B.

Both boxes now have the same number of pins.

How many pens are in box A now?

What is the internet saying?

Not long after the post, Twitter user @jglühman posted that he thought the answer was 95. A few minutes later, he posted his second guess of 76.

Both of his answers were wrong.

One pilot, who goes by the name “aircraft driver-aircraft announcer” on Twitter, didn’t even bother to answer the question, writing, “I fly planes for a job and it hurts.”

Another Twitter user, Ivan Rai, posted that he thought the answer was 95. Also wrong.

But TV director Jonathan Glazier posted proof showing the correct answer – 114.

What is the answer and how do you find out?

One way to work out the answer is to transform the question into simultaneous algebraic equations.

Use in the equations a be the initial number of pins in array A and b be included in the original number of pens in panel B.

Since there are 5 times as many pegs in box A as in B, and if you take 76 pegs from box A and put them in box B, they are the same to get the two equations.

From here you add 76 to both sides of the equation on the right so both equations are equal awhich results in:

Since both equations are now the same ayou can then merge the equations into:

When 5xb is really fair b+b+b+b+b you can take one with you b from both sides:

Then dividing 152 by four gives the value of b:

Since the number of pins in both boxes is just b (the starting number in box B) plus 76, we can easily calculate that.

The answer is 114 pins in both boxes, but if you want to be absolutely sure, you can practice aand hence what that number is if you take out 76 pins.

• a = 5xb
• a = 5 x 38
• a = 190
• 190 – 76 = 14

“Mrs. H” on Twitter came up with an ingenious alternative to solve the problem

But if algebra isn’t your forte, Twitter user “Mrs H” found an ingenious way to model the problem using a graph.

She drew Box A as five equal squares and Box B as a square that has two squares from Box A with a total of 76 pins transferred between them.

Therefore, arrays A and B both have three equal squares representing a number of pins.

Since two of the squares are 76 pins, she figured out that one square is worth:

Since both boxes now have three squares and she knows one is worth 38, she multiplies 38 by 3.

Therefore, boxes A and B now both have 114 pins.

Rishi Sunak’s “big idea” to make math compulsory by the age of 18 was derided as a “dead cat” last week to distract from the NHS crisis and winter of discontent

It comes after Mr Sunak’s “big idea” to make math compulsory up to the age of 18 was derided as a “dead cat” last week to distract from the NHS crisis and winter of discontent.

In his first major speech as Prime Minister on January 4, Mr Sunak pledged to equip children for the “jobs of the future” by tackling the UK’s high number of numbers.

Young people will be forced to take “some form” of math, taught either through new courses or existing qualifications such as A-levels, T-levels and core math. For most, the ride will likely involve hands-on skills rather than algebra.

But opposition parties dismissed the initiative as “empty” – while the Tories urged Mr Sunak to focus instead on tackling illegal immigration.

Nigel Farage lamented that ‘quadratic equations’ would not help to mend ‘broken Britain’.

Nigel Farage lamented that ‘quadratic equations’ would not help to mend ‘broken Britain’.

Former Cabinet Secretary John Redwood urged Mr Sunak to focus on tackling illegal immigration and the Canal crisis

According to the government, around eight million adults in England have the numeracy skills expected of primary school children.

Currently, only about half of 16- to 19-year-olds study mathematics in some form. The problem is particularly acute for disadvantaged students, 60 percent of whom by age 16 lack basic math skills.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the prime minister “needs to show his work” as “he can’t keep this warmed-up, empty promise without more math teachers”.

She added: “Nevertheless, the government has failed to meet its target for new mathematics teachers year after year, and existing teachers are leaving in droves.”

A Labor source said: “In their desperation to ensure Sunak’s speech does not follow Keir’s speech, No 10 have revealed they have nothing to offer the country except… double math.

“As the health service collapses after 12 years of Tory rule, criminals terrorize the streets and working people worry about how their wages will last the month, the country has the right to ask: is this it?”

Former Cabinet Secretary John Redwood tweeted: “While the Prime Minister turns his attention to math classes, he should not forget his decision as the most pressing priority was to stop illegal migration.

“Parliament urgently needs to legislate on small boats and public services.”

Mr Farage also chimed in, saying: “So Rishi Sunak’s big idea to save the nation is math up to the age of 18! How will quadratic equations help solve broken Britain?’