![\"\"](\"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/d06761b6-7e33-4af3-b306-9470341d15fe-300x250.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWelcome to a fun mathematical puzzle that is going around the internet.<\/p>\n
At first glance, it looks like a simple test for elementary school students.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The prompt on the paper gives us a clear challenge.<\/p>\n
It says: \u201cNo Pen, No Paper, Only Use Your Brain!\u201d<\/p>\n
Underneath this instruction, we see a simple math equation: 12 + 48 \u00f7 4! = ?<\/p>\n
Many people look at this problem and jump to an answer right away.<\/p>\n
However, many of those quick answers turn out to be completely wrong.<\/p>\n
Let us break down this puzzle step by step using basic math rules.<\/p>\n
To solve any equation with multiple operations, we must follow the order of operations.<\/p>\n
In mathematics, this order is commonly known as PEMDAS or BODMAS.<\/p>\n
This rule tells us to solve parentheses first, then exponents, followed by multiplication and division, and finally addition and subtraction.<\/p>\n
Looking at our equation, we see an addition sign and a division sign.<\/p>\n
Most people notice the exclamation mark after the number four and think it is just punctuation.<\/p>\n
They assume the exclamation mark is expressing excitement about the problem.<\/p>\n
Because of this assumption, they simply calculate 48 divided by 4 first.<\/p>\n
48 divided by 4 gives us 12.<\/p>\n
Then, they add 12 to 12 and arrive at the number 24.<\/p>\n
If you thought the answer was 24, you are not alone, but you missed a key mathematical symbol!<\/p>\n
In mathematics, an exclamation mark after a number is not an exclamation of excitement.<\/p>\n
It is a mathematical operation called a factorial.<\/p>\n
A factorial of a whole number means multiplying that number by every positive integer below it down to one.<\/p>\n
Therefore, 4! does not mean a loud \u201cfour\u201d.<\/p>\n
It means 4 factorial, which is calculated as 4 \u00d7 3 \u00d7 2 \u00d7 1.<\/p>\n
Let us do that math first: 4 times 3 equals 12.<\/p>\n
Then, 12 times 2 equals 24.<\/p>\n
Finally, 24 times 1 equals 24.<\/p>\n
So, the symbol 4! is actually equal to the number 24.<\/p>\n
Now we can rewrite the original equation with this new value.<\/p>\n
The equation becomes: 12 + 48 \u00f7 24 = ?<\/p>\n
Following the standard order of operations, division must be performed before addition.<\/p>\n
So, we perform the division part first: 48 divided by 24.<\/p>\n
48 divided by 24 equals 2.<\/p>\n
Now, our equation is simplified down to a very simple addition problem.<\/p>\n
We take the initial 12 and add the result of our division, which is 2.<\/p>\n
12 plus 2 equals 14.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the accurate logical answer to this viral puzzle is 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to a fun mathematical puzzle that is going around the internet. At first glance, it looks like a simple test for elementary school students. The prompt on the paper gives us a clear challenge. It says: \u201cNo Pen, No Paper, Only Use Your Brain!\u201d Underneath this instruction, we see a simple math equation: 12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5770,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions\/5770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}