Here is a simple-looking math puzzle that may seem to have an obvious answer at first.
Take a quick look at the expression in the picture.
36 − 36 ÷ (6 × 6) = ?
At first glance, you might feel that the answer should be 0.
After all, you can see a 36 minus another 36.
So your eyes may naturally tell you that 36 − 36 = 0.
But there is a small detail that changes everything.
The expression is not asking us to simply subtract the two 36s.
There are several operations in the expression, and we have to follow the correct order of operations.
This is where the puzzle becomes interesting.
First, look at the part inside the parentheses.
We have 6 × 6.
That gives us 36.
So we can rewrite the original expression like this:
36 − 36 ÷ 36
Now we still have subtraction and division.
Which one should we do first?
According to the standard order of operations, multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction.
So we must do the division before the subtraction.
That means we calculate:
36 ÷ 36 = 1
The expression now becomes:
36 − 1
And finally:
36 − 1 = 35