My favorite word puzzle - only "geniuses" can solve :)

A math teacher is buying wooden letters. Each letter has a price, but different letters can have different prices. A shopkeeper explains the cost of a few words: ONE costs $1, TWO costs $2, ELEVEN costs $11. The math teacher wants to buy TWELVE. How much does TWELVE cost? Watch the video for the solution.
My blog post for this video
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Sources and further reading
blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2017/0...
/ eleven_plus_two_is_an_...
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old.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?...
mathjokes4mathyfolks.wordpres...
wordsmith.org/board/ubbthread...
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[@gedludek8245]

I said to myself: twelve is twelve. I solved it, I am a genius according to the video.

[@lukeryan5222]

@@piggyzig 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@tobeymaguire647]

@Stephen Ferree no stfu

[@silentlyow]

@Stephen Ferree lol, u r a real “genius” of the planet bro… Genius in getting wrong answers

[@tithyyamnahata4944]

How much time did It take u? 47 secs for me. I think that's a lot for a genius

[@bball_ontop]

dude that was ez i am a genius now people!!!

[@robrazzano9168]

By comparing TWO to ONE, which both have an O, you learn that TW costs a dollar more than NE. TWELVE and ELEVEN share ELEV, but swap out a NE for a TW. Therefore TWELVE costs $1 more than ELEVEN. TWELVE costs $12.

[@577473]

First I tried a few algebraic approaches that got me in circles. Then I realized this and felt happy and trolled at the same time

[@toksicksea1808]

Thought Literally the same

[@ianlucas6635]

I love how the solution presented is literally this exact same logic, but hidden. Literally, the shuffling in the anagram takes the TW from two the EN from eleven, and swaps them, Turing the two into ENO -> ONE, and the eleven into TWELEV -> TWELVE, and continuing in their logic, since TW costs a dollar more than NE, the transformation from TWO -> ONE decreases its value by one, causing the ELEVEN to increase its value by one when becoming TWELVE.

[@news_oftheweek]

I did it the same way as you Rob did :)

[@musicforeveryone7960]

That's what I did as well!

[@tripleheart2970]

There's an even easier solution: The word TWELVE can be made from the word ELEVEN by switching the letters EN for TW. The same thing happens when TW is swapped for EN in the words ONE and TWO. Since TWO is one more dollar than ONE, it follows that TWELVE is one more dollar than ELEVEN, so TWELVE=$12.

[@CS-xc3xk]

exactly how i got it felt very clever and was expecting that was the solution lol much more straight forward

[@tmhchacham]

Same, but even easier (to me): TWELVE is the letters of TW(O) and ELEV(EN), after removing the parenthesized letters, leaving ONE. Meaning, the equation is TWO + ELEVEN - ONE

[@gksshaw3867]

Sometimes an easy question seems to be difficult due to the quality of questioner 😂😂😂😂

[@younishmani5560]

I over complicated it beyond imagination.

[@younishmani5560]

I was like ok so 1= o+n+e and 2=t+w+o assuming that o=n=e o is 1/3 so t+w has to be 5/3 for two to be 6/3. By the end of this I concluded that twelve is 36/3= 12

[@30k_Challenge_with_0video]

@@younishmani5560 U just had luck but u cant assume o and n and e are the same price. With that logic u can think every letter is 1/3 then twelve is 2 lol

[@Zekerets]

@@30k_Challenge_with_0video you're wrong though cause if you assume every letter is 1/3, that wouldn't work on the second and third equation. What the dude did was perfectly valid, you could just assigned the letters in the first equation random numbers that fit, and then use them to work out the rest.

[@gamatostv7157]

I believe that everyone's first thought was 12, but then they changed their minds because they realised it couldn't be so easy. At the end,it was.😂😂👏👏😲😲

[@oualidbazzaoui1989]

lol, i didn't change my mind

[@Exachad]

I predicted something like that would happen. Double plot twist.

[@Nilslos]

Me too, I think that was the first mind your decision problem I solved 😂 But interesting with the letters.

[@aditya_raj7827]

You are right bro In some exam also when questions seems to be easy we solve it more carefully.

[@huangenius]

That's why curve wrecker and curve maker have same score some time

[@ste1l1]

How I solved it: TWELVE = TW + ELVE TW = TWO - O = 2 - O ELVE = ELEVEN - EN = 11- EN TWELVE = TW + ELVE = (2 - O) + (11 - EN) = 13 - O - EN O = 1 - EN TWELVE = 13 - EN - 1 + EN = 12

[@keoni1136]

Steinar Lima same, it was only as I was finishing up that I realized the Os from "ONE" and "TWO" would cancel if you added "TWO" and subtracted "ONE" from "ELEVEN", which would leave you with the letters for "TWELVE".

[@Zonnymaka]

I did the same except that ELVE = 11 - EN = 11 - (ONE -O) = 10 + O Then i summed 10 + O + 2 -O =12 Dunno why MindYourDecision made it so complicated

[@epicjen]

Steinar Lima I basically did the same thing. I wrote O + NE = 1 O + TW = 2 ELEV + EN = 11 then NE = 1 - O and O = 2 - TW then ELEV + (1 - O) = 11 ELEV + (1 -(2 - TW)) = 11 ELEV + 1 - 2 + TW = 11 ELEV - 1 + TW = 11 ELVE + TW = 12 TWELVE = 12

[@arasmith9076]

Same

[@renoblair]

Almost the same except the last step: T+W = 2-O E+L+V+E = 11-E-N 0 = 1-O-N-E T+W+E+L+V+E-0 = 2-O+11-E-N-(1-O-N-E) = 13-O-N-E-1+O+N+E = 12

[@alanzom1503]

There is a simpler solution. Subtract eq 1 from eq 2 , than add the result to eq 3, on left side you get the same letters as the letters in twelve , on right side 12

[@SarbbottamBandyopadhyay]

Interesting solution with the Anagram approach. Intuitionally I expected it to be TWELVE to be 12 but then moved ahead with the equations like so: O + N + E = 1 => E = 1 - O - N (#1) T + W + O = 2 => T + W = 2 - O (#2) E + L + E + V + E + N = 11 => 3E + L + V + N = 11 Substituting the value of E (#1) in 3E + L + V + N = 11 3(1 - O - N) + L + V + N = 11 L + V + N = 11 L + V = 11 - 3 + 3O + 3N - N (It is 3O not 30) L + V = 8 + 3O + 2N (#3) T + W + E + L + V + E = T + W + L + V + 2E Substituting the value of T + W (#2), L + V (#3) and E (#1) we get (2 - O) + (8 + 3O + 2N) + 2(1 - O - N) = 2 - O + 8 + 3O + 2N + 2 - 2O - 2N = 2 + 8 + 2 - O + 3O - 2O + 2N - 2N // - O + 3O - 2O and 2N - 2N results in 0 = 2 + 8 + 2 = 12

[@peterbrough2461]

I got my "TWELVE" for under $4. I noticed "L' and "V" were exorbitantly priced so I bought an "E" and "N" instead, and made my own. 😜😁

[@NightMind0]

Mathematician vs economist

[@Namath1000]

The ultimate in "outside the box" thinking!

[@diffdimgamerseven9986]

lol

[@sakshamraj1333]

😂😂

[@nahyanislam6742]

I got 3.36

[@eithan]

Why complicate things? TWOELEVEN = TWO + ELEVEN = 13 Now you can get the word TWELVE by subtracting the letters ONE from TWOELEVEN and rearrange the letters. TWELVE = TWOELEVEN - ONE = 13 - 1 = 12

[@Muuip]

eithan Great! That formulation worked best for me.

[@perblame3562]

Ikr. I also did that.

[@ammon388]

Simple but best. Their formulas complicate the equation. lol

[@allylilith5605]

Dick Head ok sry then youtube somehow confused something. I got a notification of someone telling me: stop lying... and under this comment I saw Allylilith Aegwynn stop lying... posted by you somehow. Just ignore it then^^

[@gfgf2123]

eithan this is complicated just see ONE = 1 TWO = 2 So TW = NE + 1 ELEVEN = 11 TWELVE = ELEV + TW = ELEV + NE + 1 = ELEVEN + 1 = 11+ 1 = 12

[@MonsterERB]

I didn't use the "anagram" approach, I did via substiution (you get the letters TWELVE, by combining the letters of TWO and ELEVEN, then getting rid of the letters in ONE). So, "TWELVE = TWO + ELEVEN - ONE" = 2+11-1 = 12. Neat little puzzle. Since you don't have enough information to actually solve for the values of the letters themselves (seven different letters involved (O N E T W L V) and only three independent equations), I knew that the answer had to come via substitution strategy.

[@BlueCyann]

The fun thing is you can just make up numbers that fit the first three equations and it'll work. Like who wants to even begin to think about fractions of dollars. So O is a dollar and N/E are free. T is a dollar (and O is a dollar), W is free. L is eleven dollars, V is free. TWELVE is 1+11=12 dollars.

[@radward7173]

i was waiting for a non 12 answer so I could make the joke about floor being made out of ceiling and I was disappointed.

[@metallabx407]

But you can make "the floor here is made out of floor" joke

[@gwendolynsheperd9011]

I was like 12! But then I thought: wait -there must be a catch somewhere... and I suddenly wasn't sure anymore

[@TheUltimateRare]

the trick is... there is a catch but the answer is still 12 lol

[@barbarossarotbart]

The catch is that every expects that it is no so easy and thus twelve cannot be the correct answer, but it is...

[@nicolastorres147]

@@barbarossarotbart The catch is there’s no catch

[@arpits1065]

It's 12 bro not 479,001,600 😂😂

[@AvalonWizard]

@@arpits1065 well done. 19 hours faster than me. LOL. I was hoping to be then to make the comment.

[@martinpiekarski1512]

Oh wow, I was totally mindblown by this one. I mean, I totally couldn't expect that twelve would actually be 12.

[@luizlac]

I felt the opposite: I did expect twelve to be 12 because I'm a bit Occam's Razor minded.

[@martinpiekarski1512]

@@luizlac Well, my comment actually meant to be sarcastic ;p

[@lixx0376]

@@luizlac r/wooooooosh

[@avivastudios2311]

😁😁 Heh... dummy.

[@N8570E]

1. Subtract the 1st equation from the 2nd, which gives T + W - E - N = $1. 2. Add this to the 3rd equation, which gives T + W + E + L + E + V = $12. I was stumped until I saw the equations. Nice. Stay well and Happy. Thank you.

[@heddevh]

I was going to try the algebraic approach... And then realised that there probably wasn't enough information (to get the value of each individual letter) so there must be a twist to it. The solution of TW costing one more than NE came pretty quickly, but the anagram is even better!

[@sebastianalarcon7986]

You can do it with the algebraic approach but you don’t need to get the exact values of TW and LV, at the end it’s basically the same, but if you start eliminating the letters that are not part of TWELVE from the other words, it swiftly ends up in TWELVE = 12 without much thought, first O and then N and you get that.

[@raghavnandyal1518]

All this video has me thinking is why does twelve have such a weird spelling if you think about it. But yeah I solved it lol

[@franzluggin398]

Never think so much about a word that it stops looking like a word. Seriously, that strangeness will stick to that bunch of letters for a long time.

[@wwoods66]

One answer: _Eleven_ and _twelve_ come from the Old English words _endleofan_ and _twelf,_ which can be traced back further to a time when they were _ain+lif_ and _twa+lif._ So what did this _-lif_ mean? The best guess etymologists have is that it is from a root for "to leave." _Ainlif_ is "one left (after ten)" and _twalif_ is "two left (after ten)." mentalfloss.com/article/76007/why-it-eleven-twelve-instead-oneteen-twoteen

[@raghavnandyal1518]

Bill Woods Thanks for your​ inputs! So rare to see something intellectual on KZbin

[@johnox2226]

Bill Woods You are the biggest lad. Finally someone didn't give a cancerous answer!

[@bop9402]

Bill Woods

[@skytern1838]

The difference betwen ONE and TWO is 1 dollar, and TWO replaces the E and the N in ONE for a T and a W, wich is the same thing TWELVE does with ELEVEN, so it ads one dollar. 11+1=12

[@paulfrancis3221]

Skytern that's a clever observation!

[@timsteel4368]

Skytern,But to turn eleven to twelve you would discard one letter, the n and add tw

[@skytern1838]

TWELVE= *TW* +ELVE ELVE= ELEV ELEV + *EN* = ELEVEN

[@baumkind609]

That's what I thought, too

[@MrDideg]

I did this way too

[@ninthelement7289]

I solved it by making up prices for each of the letters and seeing what fit the totals. I soon realised it that whichever logical value we give to each letter, the price for twelve will end up as $12. Nice one

[@adityakumar4440]

We can also find the value of twelve using the price of the letters themselves. Since one = $1, each letter would be 33 cents or 1/3 of a dollar. Since we already know that o is 1/3 and two = $2, we can minus 1/3 by 2 to get 1 2/3 (there is an o in two). In eleven, we can minus e and n because those two letters aren't in the word twelve. We already know from the word one that e and n combined equal 2/3, so 11-2/3 = 10 1/3. Then we add t and w to make twelve. The remaining amount from the word two was 1 2/3. Once we add 1 2/3 to 10 1/3, we can find out that the word twelve is equal to $12.

[@anitamcsd1]

*doesnt read question* "Isn't it $12?"

[@nadya-catherineismail7804]

*rereads question* "yes it is"

[@eds1942]

The shopkeeper wants you to name the price hoping that you say that it must be more than $12 and they can always laugh at you if say that it’s less than $12.

[@bonnielee78]

i just went by the previous pattern of number but was confused as hell when he brought the maths in to it lol

[@Hanyamanusiabiasa]

Me : 12, ez win Me after 2 minutes : what, why 13? Me after 3 minutes : oh, nevermind

[@SchmulKrieger]

Because of the English language and the folklore myth. Twelve does not consists of two elve. In fact it is one elve and two elve. It's literally *one over (ten)* and *two over (ten)* , or one more than ten and two more than ten.

[@namelessminionveinreaver3763]

$12, assuming a favorable return policy. Buy TWO and ELEVEN, for a total of $13. Return ONE for $1. If he will not refund the cost of ONE, you're stuck with $13. There's no evidence he sells TWELVE on its own.

[@DxRzYT]

I overcomplicated this lmao For ONE, i priced every letter which adds up to $1, so O=$1/3, N=$1/3, E=$1/3, then for TWO which adds up to $2, (O is already 1/3, so TW must be $2-1/3, which is $5/3. T=$5/6 W=$5/6 I did the same for ELEVEN, which has 6 letters and they add up to $11. The E's and N in 'eleven' already have values, and E=$1/3, N=$1/3, so we can equate this: 1/3+1/3+1/3+1/3+LV=$11 4/3+LV=$11 LV=$9.75 L=$4.875 (39/8) V=$4.875 (39/8) With all this information, you can use the values of the letters to find the value of TWELVE, where all letters have a value. So, T=$5/6, W=$5/6, E=$1/3, L=$39/8, V=$39/8, E=$1/3 So we can add these up and work out the value of TWELVE. 5/6+5/6+1/3+39/8+39/8+1/3 = TWELVE 12.083 = TWELVE I was fairly close...

[@lakotze6559]

Welcome to the channel where math is made HARDER

[@bruttastoriaquesta]

Lakotze math? more like logic Made into useless maths

[@Robert-jy9jm]

@@bruttastoriaquesta Math is never useless.

[@chandrashekharprasad3065]

@@Robert-jy9jm Yeah.

[@galaxybot1182]

In short welcome to the channel which makes maths school like

[@khajiitimanus7432]

@@bruttastoriaquesta Math _is_ logic.

[@deadeye4520]

Just buy an individual one and an individual two and put them together. 12 then costs $3.

[@saulaxel]

That would be "twoone", not twelve

[@sundaravigneshe9318]

@@saulaxel it would be onetwo bruh😁😜

[@saulaxel]

@@sundaravigneshe9318 Omg, you're right xD

[@shreyanshjain7678]

If teacher say it's 12 then it's 12

[@eds1942]

The numbers one (1) and two (2), in that order with nothing nothing in between is 12. More than just the shopkeeper should be able to play pricing games.

[@danmilpan]

You can just combine everything and you get that it costs 14$,you have 2xO,2xN and 2xE more than you need,so you just subtract 2xONE from 14$ and that is 14-2x1=12$

[@RobloxKid123]

My thought process: "Oh yeah, this is just a trick question. Let me do it properly" I converted it into a system of equations o + n + e = 1 t + w + o = 2 3e + l + v + n = 11 And I'm trying to find 2e + l + v + t + w This was my working: (I thought of combining letters from 11 and 2, so I did this) 3e + l + v + n + t + w + o = 13 And then I subtracted one and I got 2e + l + v + t + w = 12 And then I was like "Are you serious?? What a scam....."

[@prestonyealy4732]

How I solved it: Twelve = 12

[@david_ga8490]

WHAT THE F*** 12 LIKES!!!!

[@smonyboy]

Damn u genius

[@humanl4903]

That’s how I solved it

[@cualquiercosa3049]

Lol I did that too

[@JourneytoBetterSelf]

David Gallego Álvarez I liked your comment to get 12 likessssss

[@cosmicturban2797]

Trick question: He's too hungover from drinking away the stress of teaching math to kids who hate math and it is too confusing for him. So he just steals the letters because he doesn't care anymore and just doesn't want to get fired from his job.

[@myrus5722]

If you do ELEVEN - ONE + TWO you get TWELVE and so the price will be 11 - 1 + 2 = 12

[@user-nj3jg6if5i]

This is so much better than how I did it

[@4ndyr0g3r50n]

I got $5.14. If the letters of each word are of equal value you can then divide each word up to get the value of each letter (i.e. ONE has three letters so $1 divided by 3, Two has three letters so $2 divided by three and ELEVEN has seven letters so $11 divided by seven). To make TWELVE you need the T and W from TWO (so two thirds of TWO meaning two thrids of $2), two E's from ONE (meaning 2 of one third of $1), and then the L and V from ELEVEN (so two of one seventh of ELEVEN, meaning two of one seventh of $11). So the calculations are as follows: ((1/3)x2)+((2/3)x2)+((11/7)x2) = $5.14 Of course this is assuming that not only each letter within each word makes is of equal value but also that each letter can be seperated. If not, then that shop is making a huge profit margin on the word TWELVE.

[@olliehopnoodle4628]

After staring at it for a minute or two I realized the letters in twelve are make up of the letters two and eleven minus the letters in one. So add up the cost of two and eleven and subtract the cost of one. Kind of how he did it.

[@rini9325]

Me too!

[@tncookies]

That's how I did it.

[@alexwang982]

i was like TWELVE!!!

[@alexwang982]

because it said 1 costs 1 2 costs 2 11 costs 11 so 12 costs 12 AND I WAS RIGHT!!!!

[@ethanpfeiffer7403]

3.1415926535897 Same

[@alexwang982]

you replied fast

[@Slackow]

3.1415926535897 yeah but that wasn't the point. Each letter has a different price not the word. You took the wrong path.

[@alexwang982]

but still it was funny when i got it

[@eksentrysyti]

Saw the puzzle and immediately realized it's going to be about subtracting/adding the whole strings the same way you'd do a system of equations. It's trippy that not only does 11+2-1 = 12, but the letters ELEVEN + TWO - ONE = TWELVE

[@epiccg6872]

After a bit of thinking, I saw that you can take the "O" from "TWO" and the "EN" from "ELEVEN" to form "ONE". Since the letters from "TWO" and "ELEVEN" are worth thirteen dollars, taking out "ONE" will leave you with "TWELVE" being worth twelve dollars.

[@zanetruesdale8336]

Is it 42?

[@sphinx1659]

Zane Truesdale no. it is thoughty2

[@ardisiacrenata9904]

Zane Truesdale Fiiine job. Now all we need to do is to find out what the Ultimate question is.

[@qazwiz]

42 IS ALWAYS the answer

[@zanetruesdale8336]

THE OFFICIAL DROP BUTTON FINDER bruh 42 thumbs up 👌

[@mene03]

Zane Truesdale ahhahahah you made my day

[@mohamedabdulatief3281]

You will never know how i got so many likes :))

[@jumpman8282]

Mathemagics.

[@justaregulartoaster]

come over to the dark side! we have math! (that might scare away some people)

[@alexzndr4035]

Mohamed Abdulatief math is dark all the time

[@jumpbros9244]

Mohamed Abdulatief easy af

[@jurg5564]

Aspire Cxmiqs Mental Abuse To Humans

[@markwood3583]

You can make twelve by taking the tw from two and the elve from eleven. To do this you must drop th o in one and the en fro eleven. When you drop the o and the en you can rearrange that to make one. Essentially you have created twelve from the previous two words by removing the letters one which is worth one on value. Answer thirteen minus one is twelve

[@Crestalus]

I thought I was such a smartass for thinking the answer isn’t 12 but after calculating it is

[@andor888]

The best part about this is that I can justify "buying" all the Os and Ns and sell them at infinite profit.

[@baams.5933]

I thought you just needed common sense One = $1 Two = $2 Eleven = $11 So why the hell wouldn't 'Twelve' be $12?

[@joshlucas4269]

Exactly what I did aswell.

[@mr.moodle8836]

The letters to spell TEN are all in ONE and TWO. If we buy the letters T, E and N, and then some bonus letters on top, and that's only 3 dollars, the letters to spell out TEN cost under $10. Common sense doesn't logically prove anything in this scenario.

[@James-yw9ht]

Mr. Female Cow yes it does

[@UrasSomer]

Danny Burke the answer was indeed 12 but you cant say that just because it spelled out twelve. For example, something like thirteen would cost a lot more than 13 because it has a lot of letters and would cost the carpenter more money

[@farisakmal2722]

Kragonal 88 thought it was a trick question😅

[@FishbrainMnt]

Why is everyone making this so difficult. This is a simple problem. After observing it carefully you can see that it can be directly solved by simple equation -> T + W + O + E + L + E + V + E + N - (O + N + E) = 2 + 11 - 1 and when we eliminate the 3 letters that are exactly the letters form ONE we get -> T + W + E + L + V + E = 12

[@samurai5910]

I would have just bought TWO and ELEVEN to rearrange the letters to TWELVE and throw away the unnecessary letters. So I would have paid $13.

[@sophiemontecalvo7503]

Twelve dollars? For the record, I actually did calculations, I didn't just guess that because of the obvious. Awesome video. They never cease to amaze.

[@kenlogsdon7095]

I gave up trying it algebraically as soon as I realized I had to solve for 7 variables using only three equations. I didn't think it was possible. What did you get as the actual value of each letter?

[@sophiemontecalvo7503]

O=$0.50 N=$0.25 E=$0.25 T=$0.50 W=$1.00 L=$5.00 V=$5.00

[@Tfin]

The actual cost of each letter can't be determined. Just for fun, I split ONE roughly in thirds: O=.35 N=.33 E=.32 T=1.60 W=.05 L=4.50 V=5.21 I'm going to save money by buying a bunch of W and some glue. I already have the tools at home to cut them up.

[@sophiemontecalvo7503]

I know there are multiple ways to arrange the numbers, but applying one amount to each number made finding the answer easier for me.

[@TheQueue841]

What I'm concerned about is how there are enough people buying V's that the store can afford to sell them at 104x the cost of a W. Where is this store and how's their stock of W's?

[@MrDideg]

I have made it by other way O+N+E=1, T+W+O=2, and they have the "O" in comun so N+E +1=T+W, and TWELVE IS T +W+ ELVE, and if you rearrange eleven it is N+E+ELVE, so TWELVE costs one more than ELEVEN.

[@charleston-re3dw]

I found 12 because : 1) if ONE = 1€ therefore we could assume that one of them costs 0.50€, O, and the other two, N and E, cost 0.25€ 2) then TWO = 2€, O costs 0.50€ so W or T (it doesn't matter which one) costs 1€ and the other also costs 0.50€ 3) ELEVEN = 11€ where E=0.25€ N=0.25€ therefore L and V both cost 5€ 4) TWELVE = 1+0.50+0.25+5+5+0.25 = 12€ Thank you. N.B: I believe it also works for non-round numbers (I mean uglier numbers like 0.333...) or if the values are exchanged but I'm too lazy to check.

[@mrk4022]

I solved it a bit differently. Took me 10 seconds. I noticed right away that if you put together all the letters in TWO and ELEVEN and take away from this pile all the letters in ONE, all you have left are exactly all the letters in TWELVE, no more, no less. Hence 11 + 2 - 1 = 12

[@gavinwang1531]

Imagine if this video is 10 minutes, and in the end he was like: So TWELVE costs 12 dollars tank you for watching

[@Utkarsh2607]

Smashing my mobileヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

[@HannTheftAudio]

Going through that much 8u!!$#!+ just to state the obvious would definitely P!$$ some people off. Bad enough I already feel like my math teachers were wrong, lets throw this garbage in there just to screw with my 3rd grade education. Ms. Bailey would be screaming if she saw this on youtube.

[@neerajnandan3519]

I actually used a different easier method: In two and one we can find that it has O common with one. We also see that NE are cheaper than TW. Both 11 and 12 have same number of letters but NE from 11 is replaced by TW in 12. So this shows additional increase by one dollar. So then I got 12 dollars.

[@Frederic1406]

I did the same as you!! Really an interesting problem!

[@CapAnson12345]

Well I realized Twelve = ELVE +TW and Eleven = ELVE +EN. So since from the first two TW is obviously EN +1, therefore TWELVE=ELEVEN+1. So 12. And then yes, I spent 10 minutes trying to talk myself out of it thinking there must be a trick.

[@samhan9703]

I have a question, when you buy TWO and ELEVEN, the shop allow you to return ONE and refund you $1? Hardly to understand the question.

[@marijn9861]

SIMPLE EXPLANATION i just saw that TWO and ELEVEN had the same letters as TWELVE minus the letters from ONE so 2+11 = X +1 X=12

[@snowfloofcathug]

Marijn no, TWO and ELEVEN have the same letters as ONE and TWELVE :3

[@marijn9861]

Lucas Snowball_Cathug hahah always stay sharp. you're right

[@michaelmahoney5677]

Right? I mean, ultimately the video said the same thing but it was just more complicated.

[@pierrebissonnette4934]

I prefer your explanation to that of the video; I find it more mathematical.

[@emanuelsjodin3569]

Or you just buy a one and two for 3 dollars and pretend it says 12, instead of ONETWO

[@sonalidasgupta3562]

...this appeals so much to my middle-class heart 👏🍻

[@nchia]

I took it to mean ONE + TWO + ELEVEN = $1 + $2 + $11 = $14 = ONE + ONE + TWELVE = $2 + TWELVE So $2 + TWELVE = $14; TWELVE = $14 - $2 = $12 * TWO ELEVEN is an anagram of ONE TWELVE

[@rgrif777]

The answer to the original equation setup is 12, no initial statements of anagrams, mathematical tricks, or whatever else, so 12 is the answer.

[@bernardocarneiro2110]

I just thought if I took an o, an n and an e from "twoeleven" you could get "twelve", so 11+2-1=twelve's price, yet I believe that is a convenient thing, like a guess

[@damianm-nordhorn116]

That's exactly his approach at 2:30 ;)

[@tekiyakigenji3568]

I answered 12 immediatly. Im so genius, i know it. Never been feel so genius before.

[@edwardbrown2873]

We know TW is worth one more than NE from the first two equations. Replace the EN at the end of ELEVEN with TW. This spells TWELVE rearranged. So TWELVE is worth one more than ELEVEN and so equals 12.

[@nagualdesign]

I saw that a T and a W cost $1 more than an N and an E. I also noticed that to make TWELVE from ELEVEN you need to swap an N and E for a T and W, so it would also cost $1 more. I never noticed the anagrams.

[@tommythai1043]

TWELVE = TWO + ELEVEN - ONE = 11 + 2 - 1 = 12

[@uwefeistenauer]

In Words: If you buy TWO and ELEVEN it costs 2 + 11 = 13. If you rearrange the letters you get TWELVE + ONE. So you have the letters ONE to much. Because ONE costs 1 that you don't need, the price is 13 - 1 = 12

[@James-yw9ht]

or you just change the words to numbers

[@debbiehenri345]

Looking just at the thumbnail for a few seconds, I spotted the lettering in twelve would be a combination of TWO and ELEVEN, minus the ONE (thus $2 + $11 - $1 = $12). Once algebra was mentioned at the beginning of the explanation, there was me thinking I'd got it wrong, but seems I got there.

[@sejden9568]

ONE=$1 TWO=$2 ELEVEN=$11 Sum = 14 There are 2x ONE what is equal $2. and that exists TWELVE which is equal $12 because 14-2 ez

[@sergeischarrenberg]

I think the hardest part about this was making sure I didn't miss a letter or double up a letter or confuse O with 0. The problem was basic algebra made tedious lol. You also can't trust patterns, I was worried there would be if you buy three Es you get one free discount

[@faceoctopus4571]

Sometimes zero is written with a \ going through it, so if you're writing it out by hand, you could do that.

[@SatnamGugar]

This is one of the few problems on his channel I could actually do myself 🙃

[@idyllicmoon3651]

What I did is probably the most simple answer here. If one = $1 two = $2 eleven = $11 then twelve obviously costs $12.

[@graterdeddly9527]

One of the most salient criticisms of math and philosophy is that in both, the more complicated and deeper one goes, the less they relate to any sort of practicality or "real life". Here, the answer is not certainly twelve dollars. Each letter could be priced as to the amount of time or skill it takes to make or carve the wood, how much material in each letter, and how many of those letters the seller has on hand and what customer base he serves -- the whole supply and demand thing. Vowels show up more often in words than do consonants. E-L-E-V-E-N has the same number of letters as T-W-E-L-V-E, and O-N-E has the same number of letters as T-W-O but the prices different, so each letter must have some value dictated by factors we don't know about. Twelve has two vowels while eleven has three. The letter "w" is less often used than "n", so perhaps not as many are needed and maybe are priced higher. That could be the reason "two" is more expensive than "one" since the latter is made up of common letters. Still, "w" is used more often than "v" which might be why "eleven" is so damn expensive (better to buy two "ones" and put them together). In math world, I'm sure the answer is $12, which would be quite handy for the merchant when he goes to the unemployment office to collect his check after going out of business in the real world.

[@ayaghsizian]

As always, I love your questions and am amazed how I figured this out the hard way when there was a super easy way.

[@sillyseaytb]

You can buy the letters of "two" and "eleven" in order to make "twelve" so 13 would be the maximum price, or even the price

[@75Froggie]

How dare you think in terms of reality! Go smoke some weed and groove out on the cerebral-ness of it all. All Presh's cute anagrams and equations produce an answer that no storekeeper selling the letters would never agree to, at least if ONE, TWO, and ELEVEN were the only products we know of that the storekeepere has actually offered for sale at a stated [arbitrary] price.

[@exel001]

twelve = tw + elve (1) from two = 2 -> tw = 2 - o (2) from eleven = 11 -> elev + en = 11 -> elev = 11 - en -> elve = 11 - en (3) subst. 3 and 2 to 1: twelve = 2 - o + 11 - en = 13 - (o+en) = 13 - one = 12

[@rafaelos6118]

or .... you just can put prices to each letter and you will find the correct answer without that complicated thought ....

[@shyannemok7571]

bless me lol the part when he says "algebraic expressions" I was like I'm outta here bye

[@HannTheftAudio]

I still don't have a clue what he was talking about. I just simply converted the word to number and added a $ to it. There, instant problem solved.

[@Benrir.]

isnt the words show the price so one = 1$ two = 2$ eleven = 11$ twelve = 12$ Just use the words and change it to numbers Wish i am lucky

[@ProfessorSyndicateFranklai]

You are.

[@Packerfan130]

I'd rather be smart than lucky.

[@Benrir.]

Scott Bartholomew sometimes a smart person can lose to lucky person

[@LughSummerson]

Bless your heart.

[@Packerfan130]

Pocari Sweat, it's not about winning ALL of the time it's about the BEST CHANCE of winning. Smart gives the best chance over lucky. It's never been about winning ALL the time, just the BEST CHANCE of winning.

[@millieandmars5248]

Am I the only one who thought that it would be 3$ because 12 is 1; 1 cost 1$ and 2 cost 2$ so 2$=1$= 3$ then immediately realized it couldn't be true since 11 is not 2$

[@TB-up4xi]

A different approach.... TWO ELEVEN ONE = 14, take away the letters for TWELVE you're left with OEN+ONE = 2 , 14-2 =12 = TWELVE.

[@anjonlee]

I ignored "the all letters have different price" And just it could be perhaps $11,167😄

[@2012oyt]

Happy that at least I could solve this one through algebraic equations on my own :). Reminded me of my school days. Great videos and great learning.

[@tsurara6820]

I thought it is 12 at first, but I want to prove it with math so I got: N+O= 1-E= 13- T-W-3E-L-V and with that: TWELVE= 12

[@supertron6039]

I did it in a similar way but like this: O+N+E = 1 ---------> O = 1 - N - E T+W+O = 2 ----------> T + W = 1 + N + E 3E + L + V + N = 11 Now, TWELVE = (TW) + (2E + L + V) = (1 + N + E) + (2E + L + V) = 1 + (3E + L + V + N) = 1 + 11 = 12

[@space4340]

Umm im pretty sure 1+1 is the easiest problem. I've known the answer is 3 my whole life...

[@luigiboy72]

Wait what... I thought 1+1 is 11.

[@dustinbellina7268]

I thought 1+1 was impossible to solve, thank you for the answer.

[@kristo3019]

I thought 1+1 was 2. My whole life is a lie

[@gurnihalsingh6252]

I thought 1+1=10% of 20

[@manlaia2391]

You’re right about that but this one is the easiest math word problem :-)

[@missylim7967]

Howwww do people think of this stuff? That's amazing!!!

[@timothycollins3829]

I figured it out, but used a slightly different, and to me an easier process. 1. If O + N + E. = 1 and T + W + O = 2, then you can cancel out the O and come up with the realization that T + W = N + E +1. 2. Comparing ELEVEN and TWELVE and canceling out common letters (ELVE) you end up with N + E for eleven and T + W for twelve. 3. Therefore the answer is 11 + 1 = 12.

[@CM-dw2xr]

You certainly don't need the clever anagrams, just set up 3 equations for the first three costs, and then solve (T+W)+2E + (L+V) by substitution. (2-O) +2E + (11-3E-(1-O-E)) = 2+11-1 =12. Takes about 15 seconds.

[@notnotcharles3022]

I didn't have the anagram :( Still the easiest problem though, only a 5 line equation with substitution! {O+N+E = 1 {T+W+O = 2 {3E+L+V+N = 11 T+W+O = 2 T+W+(1-N-E) = 2 T+W-N-E = 1 T+W+(3E+L+V-11)-E = 1 T+W+E+L+V+E = 12 Edit: Reading evyerbody else's solutions that are so simple istg I approach all of these videos with simultaneous equation and turns out I can use simple logic instead of 2 pieces of paper

[@YuriLifeLove]

Don't worry... Your solution is still a lot more simpler than mine, and I use 3 pieces of paper... I called my solution "The Ridiculously Complicated Answer" O + N + E = 1 E = 1 - O - N T + W + O = 2 T + W = 2 - O E + L + E + V + E + N = 11 3E + L + V + N = 11 3E = 11 - L - V - N E = (11 - L - V - N) / 3 Compare the two results of E 1 - O - N = (11 - L - V - N) / 3 3 (1 - O - N) = 11 - L - V - N 3 - 3O - 3N = 11 - L - V - N L + V = 11 - 3 + 3O + 3N - N L + V = 8 + 3O + 2N T + W + E + L + V + E = (T + W) + 2E + (L + V) => (2 - O) + 2 (1 - O - N) + (8 + 3O + 2N) => 2 - O + 2 - 2O - 2N + 8 + 3O + 2N => 2 + 2 + 8 - O - 2O + 3O - 2N + 2N => 2 + 2 + 8 = 12

[@IsakIIIHemmingsson]

You can solve it in one line :) Eleven+(two-one)=elev+tw=twelve=11+1=12

[@notnotcharles3022]

@@IsakIIIHemmingsson Yeah, there seem to be a lot of solutions, this is the cleanest I've seen though

[@david_ga8490]

Basicaly, a Baldi's Basics problem *WOW, YOU EXIST!*

[@davidseed2939]

ELVE-O =10 TW-NE=1 eg O=2, E=L=V=3 , N=1 , T=2, W=3 Are there a range of prices which logically reflect the cost of production eg W>V E>L

[@wenaolong]

There are at minimum two solutions. One is not to assume that the prices actually vary, and assign a value to match the number stated, because that number isn't the word's worth of letters being sold, it's the shopkeeper telling you, with simple English, that each letter is worth 1 dollar. "One" letter is $1, "Two" letters is $2. "Eleven" letters is $11. So no wonder that "Twelve" letters is worth $12. But that's "two" easy. So there is the question of possible differential values of the letters which comprise "one" and "two" etc. In one version of that case, O=0 and TW-NE=1. But if that is true, and ONE=$1, then O=$0. But a free letter? Let it be true. In that case we have NE=$1 and TW=2. "ELEVEN" = $11 = (ELEV + NE = 11) So by substitution that ELEV=$10. TWELVE is (ELEV+TW) = ($10 + $2) = $12. Either way, "TWELVE" is $12. But these are two different universes: In one universe, the phrase "NUMBER" means the number of letters, or N(L), and 1(L)=$1, and 12(L)=$12, and "O"=$1. But in the other universe, N(O) always is free, no matter the N. SCOOBY DOO and SCBY D are the same price, whereas in the first case SCOOBY DOO is $9 and SCBY D is $5. Oh, and TWELVE = EETWLV = $7, while ELEVEN = EEELVN = $7. But let's not take that to be the case, because then this problem would be an annoying pun (although this could work if you were trying to cheat the devil and you were poor at algebra). Another case in that second universe works where it is NE=$0, then O=$1, and so TW=$1 and O=$1 (so TWO=$2). Then in that case ELEVEN = EEEN+LV = $11 = ($0+LV) = ($0+$11) so that LV=$11. Then TWELVE is TW+EE+LV, which is $1+$0+$11=$12. So you still don't know what any of the letters cost, but only what groups of them cost, but regardless you know what TWELVE costs: It costs $12. N could be .6 and E could be .4. That would be 1. TW could be T=1.3 and W=.7. Then ELEVEN would be .6+(.4x3)+LV so that LV=9.2 (so that 1.8+9.2=11). Then TWELVE would be TW+EE+LV = 2 + .8 + 9.2 = 12. So this works with any values of those numbers (though I haven't proven this algebraically here, which is the proper way).

[@5tripes]

"Common Core"

[@buzzbuzz20xx]

3:36

[@Notwell25]

I did it totally different but still got $12(ish) by figuring the cost of each letter. ONE. The letters O-N-E cost $0.3333 each equaling $1. TWO. The letters T-W each cost $0.8335 and O costs $0.3333 equaling $2. ELEVEN . The E's(x3)+N=$1.3332. $11-$1.3332=$9.6668. $9.6668/2=$4.8334. L-V cost $4.8334 each. T= $0.8335 W= $0.8335 E= $0.3333 L= $4.8334 V= $4.8334 E= $0.3333 TWELVE= $12.0004 I'm not a math guy at all, and this was obviously the hard way.

[@Abcd-pv1ic]

The shopkeeper trying to test math teacher in his own style😎😎😎

[@matthewwilcox2055]

Actually, if you are converting ONE or TWO into variables, the expression would be O×N×E=1 and T×W×O=2.

[@ThreePointOneFou]

Not in this case: The problem states that the shop is selling letters that can be used to spell out words, so adding the letters is the correct operation here.

[@sonalidasgupta3562]

...that's a nice spanner to jam the works 😈

[@shehabhabila9434]

I guessed that it was 12$ 😅 Then I solved it with the algebraic solution before I continue the video 💃😄

[@idoszamet889]

You return 2 equations and then you have -twice o and -twice n and -twice e =-1*2=-2 = x - 11 - 1 - 2 so X is equal to 12

[@VulcanDoodie]

we can solve it more simply : I buy an ELEVEN and a TWO wich cost me exactly 13$ . I sell the O, N, E wich I dont need to form a TWELVE and shopkeeper gives me back 1$ . therefore I spent 12 $

[@natnew32]

So, there are two clear ways of solving this problem, both having completely different rationales, and one is clearly correct, with the other therefore being incorrect... but both lead to the same answer. Yes, this is indeed the easiest problem ever.

[@anarchyseeds4406]

natnew32 which one is incorrect. Not sure it follows that if two things work and one works the other doesn't.

[@natnew32]

Exactly, it's unknown which is correct. it could be argued TWELVE = 12, based on the pattern, making the algebra unnecessary, or that the algebra has to be correct, making the Word = Number look stupid and incorrect, but both have the same answer...

[@notlekon2704]

But still he answer it three dollars because you can just buy a two and a one for three and put em next to each other.

[@laserlordz]

Notlekon the teacher isn't buying the numbers '1' and '2', but the words 'ONE' and 'TWO'. if he put those next to eachother it would read 'ONETWO', not 'TWELVE'.

[@CRASHHEADHUNTERz]

I solved it by assigning values to all the numbers. O was 0, N was 0, E was 1. Now one equals 1. T was 2, W was 0, O was 0. Two equals two without conflict with ones assigned values. Eleven has 3 E for a total E value of 3, I assigned L to equal 2, I assigned V to equal 6. Eleven equals 11 now without any value conflicts. Twelve has 2 E for a E value of 2, has 1 V for the value of 6, has L for a value of 2, and has T for a value of 2, making our total cost 12 with out any letter price discrepancies.

[@tncookies]

I got it in a slightly different way. I noticed that you can make the word twelve from the words two and eleven if you take out o, n, and an e. Therefore, you subtract the cost of the o, n, and e ($1) from the cost of the words two and eleven ($13) to get $12.

[@The-Wordsmith]

That's how I did it. Seems like the quickest and easiest way to me, but what do I know 🙂

[@pennybrant7799]

I read the problem completely differently 😂 O * N * E = 1 T * W * O = 2 there fore T*W/(N * E) = 2 TWELVE = ELEVEN * TW/(E*N) = 11 * 2 = 22 This is such a cool coincidence😂

[@supremedestructor]

good to find someone who thinks exactly like I do

[@lzphoi2351]

this is not coincidence, this is mathematically correct. ABC=D should be multiply , not sum up.

[@christophermackley8084]

@@lzphoi2351 You are buying wooden letters, not multiplying variables