So... when is Cheryl’s birthday?

Are you smarter than a Singaporean high school student? Here’s one way to find out.

A math problem intended for sophomores and juniors in Singapore has become the obsession of some portion of the Internet over the past few days. The students were asked to answer a seemingly simple question: “When is Cheryl’s birthday?”

To figure it out, you’re provided with some vague clues. Cheryl separately gives two new friends some details about when she was born, including a list of 10 possible birth dates. She also tells one of the friends, Albert, the month of her birthday, then tells the other friend, Bernard, the day of her birthday.

As a final clue, there’s a conversation between Albert and Bernard, in which they each talk about what they know.

Now go solve the riddle!

Stumped? You’re not alone.

The question first appeared on April 8, as part of the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiads contest. It was posted online Friday by a Singaporean television presenter and quickly went viral — perhaps because the problem was initially misidentified as one intended for 10- and 11-year-olds.

As the problem spread far and wide, it became a bit of a joke. Truthfully, we blame no one for choosing to laugh instead of crying out of frustration.

#Birthday #Riddle #Cherly

Note by Lew Sterling Jr
6 years, 2 months ago

1 vote

  Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

  • Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
  • Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
  • Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
  • Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold

- bulleted
- list
  • bulleted
  • list

1. numbered
2. list
  1. numbered
  2. list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

[example link](https://brilliant.org)example link
> This is a quote
This is a quote
    # I indented these lines
    # 4 spaces, and now they show
    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in \( ... \) or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 2×3 2 \times 3
2^{34} 234 2^{34}
a_{i-1} ai−1 a_{i-1}
\frac{2}{3} 23 \frac{2}{3}
\sqrt{2} 2 \sqrt{2}
\sum_{i=1}^3 ∑i=13 \sum_{i=1}^3
\sin \theta sin⁡θ \sin \theta
\boxed{123} 123 \boxed{123}

Comments

I have posted this problem here. Let's keep the solution discussions on that problem.
I have locked this note.

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years, 2 months ago
×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...