A Level results day is finally here in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. So if you want to know what it feels like for an 18-year-old, see how you do with this maths question…
No one likes the feeling of picking up their A Level results but the time has finally come. Thousands of students up and down the country will be relieved to finally begin their summer after learning the outcome of their exams today (August 13).
Teenagers will have had an early start this morning with schools and colleges open from 8am to allow students to physically pick up their results. Now if you’ve ever wondered if you still remember all that knowledge back then, we have just the question for you. We can assure you, it won’t be easy to solve as this 7-mark question is seriously stumping adults online.
It was shared on TikTok by @freemathstutor_UK, who boasts 132,000 followers, where they use the platform to help students with tutoring. Now grab a timer, paper and pen, then get to work. Don’t forget to let us know how you get on in the comments below!
Question
A team game involves solving puzzles to escape from a room. Using data from the past, the mean time to solve the puzzles and escape from one of these rooms is 65 minutes with a standard deviation of 11.3 minutes.
After recent changes to the puzzles in the room, it’s claimed the mean time to solve the puzzles and escape has changed. To test this claim, a random sample of 100 teams is selected.
The total time to solve the puzzles and escape for the 100 teams is 6,780 minutes. Assuming the times are normally distributed, test at the 2% level the claim the mean time has changed.
After you read the question above, you’ll have to define what a mean is. This is the total of numbers divided by how many numbers there are. Next state how the data is originally distributed. Once you know the set up, you can calculate the answer.
So if you have that timer ticking, just remember you need to solve it within a few minutes. Once you’re ready to know if you’re correct, you can scroll down for the answer below the video…
Answer
If your answer states the evidence to show the mean time is different, well done! The tutor demonstrated how he got to his final conclusion as he jotted his notes in the clip.
To conclude the video, he told viewers: “We reject the H0 (null hypothesis) and there is sufficient evidence to show the mean time has changed.”
So how did you get on with the maths question? Let us know in the comments section below.
Many people who attempted the question had mixed results, as one claimed it was “so easy”, while another admitted: “I’m so cooked.”
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While brainteasers are a fun way to pass time, they’re beneficial in so many ways. They can improve cognitive function, sharpen memory and even boost problem-solving skills.
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