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The other week I saw one of those maths puzzles that people keep sharing on Facebook that I particularly liked.
You know the sort:
A sum made up of three pictures on the left.
A number on the right the equals sign.
You have to answer the final equation.
If you get it wrong you have to re-post on your own profile.
For the first time ever (I think), I got it wrong 🙁
For a reason that I’ll explain in a minute.
The first time I saw these types of questions doing the rounds, it was down to knowing the ‘order of operation’.
You know – which order to approach the plus, minus, multiply and divide symbols.
BODMAS innit?
The equations purposefully written in and order so that the order to treat the sums isn’t just left to right as shown.
A second generation of these posts then appeared.
Where some of the images in the last equation are a bit different.
For instance, the first few sums show a man, some trainers and sunglasses.
In the last equation the man is wearing the trainers and sunglasses.
So you have to ‘add up’ that before solving the rest of the equation.
The most recent version, the one that I got wrong, added another dimension in.
Same kinda picture as the last one.
But the text that went with the picture didn’t ask you to give the answer to the final equation.
But, instead, to give the total of the last column of numbers.
So you had to solve the last equation and add that to the other numbers in that column.
I missed that bit in the explanation.
I then asked one of our members Sam Perry to knock up a ninja version of the same post.
Which he did (see the attached image).
And I posted.
And every single person who answered it got it wrong.
Not a single one of us reading the instructions.
Kinda half reading them and assuming we know what they say.
Then doing that.
And it not leading to the desired results.
Normal human behaviour.
We do it all the time.
Over the years, we’ve had many people say “I’ve been doing what you recommend and I haven’t lost weight”.
Or lost as much or as quickly as they’d expect.
On further investigation, they haven’t been doing what we recommend.
A version of it, sure.
But not quite right in enough ways that it doesn’t produce the desired result.
An attempt at creating a calorie deficit.
But something missing.
Something not quite right in the calculations.
Something missed from tracking intake.
All easily done.
It’s always worth remembering that if we were to be in a genuine, controlled, average deficit over time……………
And not lose weight…………….
We’d be the first person ever.
If we think we’re following the exercise recommendations and not getting fitter / stronger / more toned (delete as appropriate)………….
Then, well, we’re not.
Again, we’re missing something.
And that’s great.
It means we’re not a victim to our genetics.
They may affect the rate of progress.
But not if progress can be made.
It means we’ve missed something.
Thought we knew what it said and are doing that.
Or something similar.
And that just means we then have to figure out what that thing is.
And how to do that.
How to incorporate those changes into our already busy and challenging lives.
If you’re not sure where those ‘missed’ things might be…………
Just ask.
We’ll figure it out together 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Turn 2: Dead End’ Hall
