Earlier this week GCSE students were up in arms after coming across an incredibly tough maths question in their paper that had also been found on an A-Level maths website. Stressed-out students took to social media to express their exasperation at the question.
The question that was posed to the students featured the strange shape above.
It said: “Eight identical regular octagons are placed edge to edge in a ring in such a way that a symmetrical start is formed by the interior edges.
“If each octagon has a side length of 1, what is the area of the star?”
While some GCSE maths students struggled with a puzzle similar to this, the question is whether you can answer this similar riddle.
If you are finding it tricky, scroll down below to find out the answer and we got there.
READ MORE: Only those with a high IQ can solve this brain teaser
Did you get the answer?
To find the area of the star we need the area of a big square and the area of four triangles.
A square is 3 x 3 = 9. The area of a triangle is (a+b)/2 = (1+1)/2 = 1.
As a result, the area of four triangles = 1 x 4 = 4 and the area of the star is 9 + 4 = 13.
Although many would find such a question difficult to find the answer to immediately, puzzles such as the one above are a great way to stretch the mind and keep one of the body’s most important muscles healthy.
Some experts have suggested that the more brain teasers and brain tests someone does, the healthier their brain will be and the less likely someone is to develop a neurodegenerative condition such as dementia.
