Woman Fails At Solving A Simple Fractions Problem

Here’s a little brain teaser for you: how many quarter cups are in one cup? OK, that is silly to even ask, but you would be surprised as to how many people out there bang their hands trying to figure that problem out! It is one of the simplest rations, but this woman was left totally puzzled over the answer.

When her sister asks her the problem, her first response is “what is a quartercup?” Okay, moving on… We will go out on a limb here and say that this woman has not set foot in a kitchen in her life. Period.

When they repeat the question, she tries to wiggle out of it by saying “that is a trick question.” Obviously, it is not. They try something simpler “how many half cups are in one cup”, turning the expression on the poor woman’s face into one massive question mark. Seriously? They simplify it further for her “what’s a half plus a half?” and she says “a whole”. Ok, that is progress. But when they ask her “how many cups in a whole cup”, she asks “what would a whole cup be?”. Oh boy…

Her mom tries another approach, asking her “what is a quarter”, to which she gets “25 cents” as a response and we are starting to lose it! She thinks they are asking her how many quarters - the coins - can fit in a cup! Not even a cake analogy helps the poor woman!

The discussion goes on for whole four minutes until they decide to give her a measuring jug to see just how many quarters of a cup will fill one whole cup. She sees a one fourth, one third, but NOT A QUARTER CUP. She knows what “ml” stands for though, so that’s something.

In the end, the whole family gives up in teaching this poor, hapless soul that there are four quarters in one cup. Such a simple problem though...