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January 11th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
Posted by The Foo in And everything else...

(Update: Guys…. read the post properly! Instead of emailing me for the answer, please see the answer at the end of the article. It is bold, located under the “Link to the spreadsheet”.)

J emailed me this nifty way of making her students solve a math problem (with an incentive) i.e. the answer to the math problem is the password to open the (Microsoft) Excel file.

Lets see whether you are smarter than a 5th grader …

There are 7 girls in a bus
Each girl has 7 backpacks
In each backpack, there are 7 big cats
For every big cat there are 7 little cats
Question: How many legs are there in the bus?
The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet.
If you open it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.
This is a real math problem so don’t say that a bus has no legs.
Also assume that there aren’t any other person on the bus except the 7 girls (i.e. there isn’t a bus driver).
If you get the correct answer that’s the password to the spreadsheet (link is below).
Put your name in the column with the names and forward it on, if you were smart enough to get the right answer.

Link to the spreadsheet

If you are really stuck, email me for the answer.

Update: Since I’ve been overwhelmed with people emailing me for the answer (more than 400+ people from over a 1200 downloads), I’ve decided to publish it. [Click here for the answer]. No cheating!


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  • Bayarjargal
    woohoo I promise!! I just did in 1 minute and got it right! :) I did those kind of stuffs when i was in 2nd grade!
  • frederickwoolfall
    What do the kids receive as compensation?
  • Mel
    not sure what you getting at...
  • celeste
    holy crow!
    im in grade 9 and i didnt even get it after like 500million tries... :(
  • Gwen Robertson
    I was on the right track. I just forgot to add the girls two legs and the small cats. I got 9604 for the answer. It took me a while, but honestly I had to google to get the answer. Once I saw what I did wrong... I was throughly upset with myself. Thanks it was fun and great to stretch my brain again.
  • TC
    Hey,whos that guy in my avatar??
    looks kinda like Lamont Sanford
  • TC
    i liked this and thought i knew it imediatly but after carefull thought (not cipherin') i'm sure i know the answer,but i don't know how to open a LXS file.(does a fifth grader?)
    Here is my answer if you dont want to see dont look....










    xxxxx
  • Mel
    took the answer out so that others can have fun too, instead of seeing the answer.
  • Cathy Cichowski
    Glad to see I got a few people thinking...... (for a change!!) And Kelly, I can just picture you giving the finger to the computer time and time again....LOL!!)

    Catbyrd (P1 from Gso)
  • Thomas Boudreaux
    little confusing. took several times before i finally got it. I am in Kuwait
  • Vonnie
    I think that the answer was
    1,582

    7(girls) * 2(legs per girl)= 14 (girl legs)
    7(backpacks) * 7 (cats per backpack) = 49 *7(little cats per big cat) = 343 + 49 = 392 (total cats)
    392 * 4= 1,568+14=1582
    :surrender_tb:
    I GIVE UP NOW!
    I already got the answer years ago i just FORGOT arg........
  • James
    To all of the wizards and computer programers, I'm a janitor and figured it out so I wouldn't brag too much.
  • Kat Peterson
    Awesome problem...and yes I did get it correct. It makes us use our grey matter!
  • yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    i got it!!!!!!!!!!
    hehehehehehehehe
    i'm not aloud to say the answer but i can tell you that it is really really HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Dan
    I thought it was quite easy... I was a computer engineer for several years, and pretty proficient in math. So, that may be the reason behind it, but apparently there are a LOT of people having problems with it.
  • JIdems
    This isn't really difficult.

    Obviously 7 girls x 2 legs = 14

    7 backpacks for each girl is 7 x 7 = 49

    each backpack contains:

    7 big cats
    and
    49 little cats (7 little x 7 big)

    therefore each individual pack contains

    56 cats total

    56 per pack x 49 packs in total = 2744 (cats big and small)

    multiply that by the number of legs a cat has 4 and add the total of the girls legs 14..

    and I failed grade 11 math 8 years ago :p
  • BessyLou
    It took about 10 minutes. My Dad was one that loved to come up with Math quizzes. He was a genius, of course, I would think that, but his whole family was highly intelligent. He never could understand what happened to his kids. #$@#$% :help_tb: :help_tb:
    One of his was: "There is a sentence in the English Language that cannot be written down, with all the words spelled correctly in it". It is: "There are three tos', or toos', or twos', in the English Language; to, too and two. How would you spell the word meaning (all three of those words) that we already have. "To" means, going or doing something, "Too" means, also and "Two" means, the number 2. I'm having a difficult time writing it for your understanding my explanation. There is no such word that stands for that meaning.
    Dad always asked this question, orally, because he couldn't write it down. He also asked the question, why do I have such dumb kids in Math, since I'm a Math Teacher? He made up funny, catchy quotes, puzzles and quizzes for magazines, years ago.
  • BessyLou
    Well, As far as #21 reply. I don't recall back packs ever having legs, HUM!!! DO THEY HAVE LEGS? GOSH, I DON'T THINK SO. Come on, #21 response had to be a blond joke, right?
    The only answer I could come up with is: 10,990 Total legs.
    Yeah, I wondered if there was a bus driver and I pondered on whether they wanted the legs of the seats counted but, it would take a frickin nerd to know how many seats were in a regular size school bus. So, I let that idea go quickly. :wallbash_tb:
  • Melissa
    nevermind ..i'm the feakin idiot haha
  • Melissa
    I don't see how the solution is correct because back packs don't have legs.. I came up with 238
  • steve
    It took about 5 minutes without a calc. How much easier could it be? > Steve
  • Debbie
    This question has been driving me crazy ever since my daughter e-mailed it to me. I have envolved a lot of people into this question also. They have been calling me since Easter Sunday. My little sister in Arizona found this link and e-mailed it to me. I now can tell everybody the answer and how it was calculated. It surely thru us all for a loop. I am not smarter than a fifth grader that has been proven by this question. I don't want to think about girls, buses, or cats for a long time. Thank you very much
  • Jeri
    Well I guess I answered my own question. I menat OR as smart as a 5th grader. :redface_wp:
  • Jeri
    I got it on the 1st try. Does this make me smarter than as smart as a 5th grader? :ponder_tb:
  • Carol Kowalik
    I got it in 5 minutes
  • Rebecca Thompson
    The bus driver is either a GIRL, or not yet on the bus!
  • Jill
    I did get teh answer but my question is......what about the bus driver's legs?

    :wacko_tb:
  • Rebecca Thompson
    I got it correct. Just slow down and read the problem.
    Yes it is a lot of math, but basic. I am giving to my kids to try next.
  • Bonnie Hall
    It took about 3 down loads to come up with the
    correct pass word.
  • Bonnie Hall
    It took me about 15 mins and 3 tries down loading the
    attachment to get the correct pass word.
    sure was a brain teaser.
  • Ryalin Hughes
    My son approached me with this problem and we've been working on it for a couple days. Tonight however, we invested the help of his stepfather who had the answer in literally 2 minutes. Don't I feel dumb!
  • Mel
    @kris

    Updated the post with a link to solution. I was overwhelmed with over 400 people emailing for the answer. The last time I checked, 1261 people have since downloaded the spreadsheet. yikes!
  • loribug26
    I got it...and I'm NOT let me repeat NOT good at math. Did have to use calculator and pencil...is that cheating? Pay attention to the fact that EACH girl has 7 backpacks.
  • Do they get a calculator to figure it out?!
  • Haha! I'm glad the answer isn't 400...
    by my calculations it should be 14 + (7*3x4) + (7*4x4), but that came out wrong when I did it.
  • Mel
    @noah

    Nope the answer is not 400. try again -- to test whether you have the answer, download the excel file and use the answer as the password in which it prompts you for.
  • Noah
    the answer is 400. i knew that and guess what. I'M IN 5TH GRADE! no really i swear i am.
  • This was emailed to me, thinking I would figure it out easily, I finally got it on the 3rd attempt and about 10 minutes later. Yes, I had to use paper and pen!
  • I got it wrong... twice.

    I don't really mind being dumber than the freak-like 5th graders they get on that show. They can read their encyclopedias before bed if they want!

    Haha, just kidding... kinda.
  • I'm officially dumb. Any chance you could send me the answer please?
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