Another Simple Brainteaser That Math Class Didn"t Prepare Me For

Growing up, many of us felt a fondness for numbers thanks to Count von Count from Sesame Street (yes, that’s really his name.) There was no resisting his boundless enthusiasm for counting, and the fact that he was the world’s friendliest vampire didn’t hurt either.

As we got older, however, our love of numbers was put to the test. Years of monotonous homework made many of us dread math, and only those who took comfort in their rational, logical systems were able to let their passion shine through. I wasn’t among them, but I felt something similar when I heard complaints about how the fine-toothed combs we put through books in English class killed someone’s love of reading. 

Yet both the math fans and the arts aficionados will be equally puzzled by today’s little brainteaser. Even though it has a simple answer, it might take a fair bit of pondering to discover what’s really going on here.

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In the past, some of the puzzles we’ve brought you could get pretty frustrating.

Rest assured that this one will involve no long division or other mathematical processes that many of us struggle to remember today.

After all, it would be pretty hard to build a complex question out of this.

As you can see, you only have to fill one square to solve the puzzle. But that hint is what makes this challenging.

But wait, how could it not be six?

The numbers only seem to be counting upward, so what gives?

It’s definitely easy to overthink this question.

Yet it’s important to remember that this question has a simple answer. For starters, those numbers are spaced the way they are in that table for a reason.

And when you see the answer on the next page, you may realize you weren’t quite thinking outside the box.