Solve the Equation: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1…..

Look at the equation in the image and solve it carefully.


Around 99% give the wrong answer in first attempt.

Equation is of the form;

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 x 0 + 1 =?

So were you able to solve the riddle? Leave your answers in the comment section below.

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Even though the answer looks straight forward, there has been a lot of debate on this riddle. Do share your feedback in the comments section below.

45 thoughts on “Solve the Equation: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1…..”

  1. Using just the image and directions: It says “Solve the following equation”. The only equation is line 3. Using order of operations, i.e. PEMDAS: 1 + (1 X 0) +1 = 1 + 0 + 1 = 2. I get different answers if submitter omitted info.

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  2. The answer is 1 unless someone put in wrong symbols or numbers cause any number you timed by zero is ZERO so then you add the 1 and 0+1=1

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    • The ‘multiply by zero’ function only applies to the second last ‘1’. ‘1’ multiplied by zero equals zero. There are 12 other ‘1’s that add up to 12.
      12+0=12.
      The answer is 12.

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  3. This site is displaying the wrong problem for the 30 answer this is the problem for the 12 answer that is similar in appearance. Check again as the problem for the answer 30 has 11’s in the equation. Sites like these that make these mistakes add to the confusion of what is the correct answer cause some people can’t figure out what happen.

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  4. Understand the answer Please
    Line No.1: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1

    Line No.2: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1

    Line No.3: 1 + 1 x 0 + 1 = ?
    1 + 1 + 1 +

    11 + 1 +1 +

    11 + 0 + 1 = 30

    Note: 1x 0 = 0
    Email: [email protected]
    Dr. Nadeem Hussain Qureshi
    Multan Pakistan

    Reply
  5. This is so sad. First, and foremost, this is not an equation the way it is laid out. Not a single conclusive answer can be extracted. It’s three separate lines. It’s unclear as written. HOWEVER, if you were to take it as an array, the first line is 5 the second is 5 and the last line is equivalent to 1+(1×0)+1 which is clearly 2. Thus:
    5
    5
    2
    Is the answer.

    There are NO symbols connecting the lines together…

    Now, if you assume the idiot who created this fallacy was typing and the 1 on the first line is a truncated 11 continuing on the next line, (and the same for the 2nd and 3rd line 1’s) then the equation would be:
    1+1+1+1+11+1+1+1+11+(1×0)+1= or 30

    Either way. It seems that whoever created this problem lacks the basic math skills to formulate it properly. Math is a detailed language. Go back to school and learn how to grammatically write out a math equation.

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    • I found it on FB tonight. Did a search to see where it might have come from and I found this page. Your answer is the same I came up with.

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  6. What if the first two lines are looked at as being expressions and the last line as the only equation? Then the answer is 2. It is all how you look at it.

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  7. In Maths equations cannot be broken into separate lines and to be on a separate line it would indicate a space so when there is a space between two numbers in Maths the powering sum would be times* therefore the equation would look like the following when working it out (Including the Bodmas rule): 1+1+1+1+(1*1)+1+1+1+(1*1)+(1*0)+1= 10 The person that wrote this was trying to make it like a puzzle but clearly does not know about the rule of spaces between numbers in maths. They intended for the answer to be 30 working it out in the following way: 1+1+1+1+11+1+1+1+11+(1*0)+1= 30

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    • 1. thres multiplication…. suppose the answer of the adding of ALL the numbers before the X 0 are 15, when we multiply it’s 0 thn +1 so 1! :/

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      • That’s what I got as well…. doesn’t matter what the numbers before the zero add up to because anytime you multiply a number by zero it is zero + 1 = 1…..

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        • DUH…. I was wrong. On second thought, you have to do the equations separately… first part is 30; then add 0 + 1 = 1…. NOW you multiply the first part (30) by the second part (1) and the answer is 30. However, I am HORRIBLE at math so if this is correct, I’ve just amazed myself and embarrassed myself at the same time. 🙂

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  8. The formula is wrong. There is no way you can write number 11 in computer in 2 lines. If you try to write number 11 at the end of the line and if it doesn’t fit the space available then the computer will put it on the next line.
    The only correct formula is the last line and based on that and arithmetic precedence the answer is 2.
    Trying to write number eleven at the end of this line 11 11 11 1 1 111 Trying to write number eleven at the end of 11 11
    11 ops sorry I can’t write
    1
    1
    as 11 it has to be
    1 1 but I can write 1
    1 if they separated by space.
    Perhaps instead of solve the equation, it should have said solve the riddle. It fits in the riddle section not pure mathematical equation. But it is still though open for different interpretation.

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    • Yes! 11 is a number not two numbers and would not separate at the end of a line. Therefore the only true equation is the third line.

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  9. Or if we see it as a run on sentence, ie 1+1+1+11+1+1….
    In this case I would say the answer is 1110 (ie 14 in binary form is written as 1110)

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  10. Some say the application of multiplication would take place first, then the additions. Appending the lines to each other into a single line of the equation, results in : 1+1+1+1+11+1+1+1+11+1 x 0 +1. If you apply the multiplication first the answer is 30. If you strictly execute from left to right like a machine, the answer is 1. If you infer that the first two lines are not associated with the mathematical expression in the third line, then the answer is either 1 or 2 . Another 10 minutes of my day wasted arguing with colleagues 😉

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  11. If the equation is shown on a 9 character wide display, then the right answer is displayed
    3
    0

    9 character wide display can not 10 characters, thus the answer is displayed as follows
    1+1×0+1=3
    0

    If the equation is not dislayed on 9 character wide display, then the numbers above are not related to the equation and thus the answer is 2

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  12. Yeah. The reasoning here is as spurious as it gets, particularly if this question was designed with ‘hard returns’ in mind. No one need assume CRs in a mathematical statement. Period. As written, there are no operators between the first 2 rows and the third. The last statement is all that is required to solve. Order of operations renders 1+0+1=2. But the question isn’t the point of this, getting your email addy is, right? Oops…you blew it.

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  13. i thinks its 2, cuz any sign between rows!
    so we can collect easily last row and it would 2!
    30 is a bad idea!! about this Q.

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  14. The answer here is wrong, the first two lines do not have any connecting or equal sign, The stated answer would be correct if the first 2 lines had an equal sign, but they don’t. Just goes to prove you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.

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    • Except you fail to realise the simple notion that it isn’t separate lines, it is one line of operations, written down over three lines, the correct way to handle it in situations you run out of space and have to continue on the next line.

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      • Wrong. Since the lines are seperated, you cannot assume that they are all in 1 line. If that were true, then the equation should be rewritten as intended.

        Reply

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