This Seemingly Simple Math Problem Keeps Stumping People on TikTok

But it looks like boredom has reached critical levels, because now, TikTok users are doing math.

An addition problem which seems easy enough at first glance is being widely shared, as people's mental arithmetic skills keep getting tripped up by the same part of it. All you have to do is add up the following numbers. Try it for yourself:

1,000

40

1,000

30

1,000

20

1,000

10

What answer did you get?

If you came up with 5,000 then congratulations: you're not alone. But you're also not correct. The actual right answer is 4,100.

See, it's remarkably straightforward to add up the first bunch of numbers in your head. 1,000 plus 40 is 1,040, plus 1,000 is 2,040, plus 30 is 3,070, plus 1,000 is 3,070, plus 20 is 3,090, plus 1,000 is 4,090. But it's at this penultimate sum that things get tricky. Most people, when adding 10 to that figure, come up with 5,000. But that's your brain skipping ahead (and overlooking a zero). The correct sum is actually, of course, 4,100.

If you got the answer wrong, don't feel too bad. So did these TikTokkers.