In the first row, there are three chickens that add up to 12. Easy peasy. To find what one chicken’s worth, just divide the total by the number of chickens:
12 ÷ 3 = 4
So, a chicken represents 4.
Next, we’ve got ducks. This row’s a bit different ’cause it’s multiplication. Three ducks multiplied together make 8. Time to figure out what one duck’s value is.
If three of the same ducks times each other give 8, we’ve gotta work backwards. Let’s find the cube root of 8:
2 x 2 x 2 = 8
That means a duck is worth 2.
On to the foxes. Three foxes added together equal 15. Just like with the chickens, divide the total by the number of foxes to find one fox’s value:
15 ÷ 3 = 5
So, a fox has a value of 5.
Now for the real head-scratcher—the final equation. The puzzle gives us this to solve:
Chicken – Duck x Fox =?
Now that we know the values, swap in the numbers:
4 (Chicken) – 2 (Duck) x 5 (Fox) =?
Hold your horses before you subtract! In math, we follow the order of operations, aka PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, Addition and Subtraction). Multiplication comes first.
So, multiply first:
2 x 5 = 10
Then subtract that from the chicken’s value:
4 – 10 = -6
And voila! The answer to this toughie is -6.
At first blush, this puzzle might look simple. Just a few animals and numbers, right? But what trips most people up is that order of operations. Lots of folks subtract before multiplying and end up with the wrong answer. But as we’ve shown, you’ve gotta multiply first, then subtract to get -6.