Did you multiply the 1 x 0 first and then add the rest of the ones together and get 12? Wrong!
The Answer: The answer is 2. Yes, 2!
The Explanation: Since there are no operator symbols (+, -, x, /) at the end of each line, there’s no mathematic reason to believe that each line is part of the same equation. And since an equation is a statement that the values of two mathematical expressions are equal, since there are no equal signs at the ends of the first two lines, they’re not equations at all. They’re just expressions. That means the only equation in the picture above is the last line, and:
1 + 1 x 0 + 1 = 2
Some argue that you should string the lines together, making the two ones at the end of each line 11s, in which case the answer would be 30 because:
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 x 0 + 1 = 30
But this isn’t really mathematically sound because math isn’t like English. You don’t just “keep reading” onto the next line (that would cause a lot of confusion and ambiguity in math problems). If you have a long equation that must be split on multiple lines, the line break must come immediately before or after an operator symbol. So if 30 was meant to be the answer, the problem should have been written:
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
11 + 1 + 1 + 1
+ 11 + 1 x 0 +1 = 30
