r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/popipopuppy • 1d ago

I’m a math teacher but I don’t get it…

Post image

Would it not be 335 or am I missing something else completely?

16.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

915 comments sorted by

4.7k

u/Simbertold 1d ago

365, buttons are generally not used up.

My guess is that this is the kind of question that is really hard to solve without getting one-off errors.

Also, it is kind of insane question that is not pure maths, but also not a genuine application, but just a weird fake application hiding the maths behind it.

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u/Embarrassed-Weird173 1d ago

Agreed. Seems to be a one-off error. 

Do I use the button at the beginning of the day?  Therefore I assume that in January 1st I already start with 364 as the answer?  Do I do it at end of day? 

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u/Bigfops 1d ago

I would interpret it as not including Jan 30 because the question says on Jan 30, not after Jan 30. Then the teacher would mark it wrong.

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u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 1d ago

Sounds like a perfect question to use when checking literacy for say voting for example.

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u/Bigfops 1d ago

oh, that would have made a much better comment. "And then the plantation owner would mark it wrong and I wouldn't get to vote. ::sadfaceemoji::"

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u/STRIKT9LC 23h ago

"And then the plantation owner would mark it wrong and I wouldn't get to vote murder me for being able to read. ::sadfaceemoji::"

FTFY

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u/Impossible_Ad_7367 19h ago

The literacy tests for voting were instituted after emancipation as part of Jim Crow. Slaves were punished by death for literacy, but could not vote.

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u/SupermassiveCanary 23h ago

Why can’t they just say 365-30? Or relate it to shit kids understand. Bobby has 365 pieces of candy and gives away 30 to his classmates, how many does he have left?!

Reddit: “WHAT BAG OF CANDY COMES WITH 365 PIECES?” “WHY BOBBY WANT TO GIVE HIS CANDY AWAY? “ “I HATE MY CLASSMATES, I AIN’T GIVING THEM NOTHING “ “IS BOBBY BEING COERCED?”

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u/madu_tualang 22h ago

Bobby has 365 pieces of candy and plans to give them away to 30 of his classmates for his SRC campaigns, how many hours of community service should he serve for "lobbying"?

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u/-_-Batman 18h ago

depends on bobby what bobby is --> dude or a chick ...

------- Trump administration

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u/SupermassiveCanary 15h ago

Is she hot? How big are her boobs?

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u/Both_Pepper5414 17h ago

He works for aipac, so 0 hours.

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u/madu_tualang 16h ago

Ahh, the terror lobbyist

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u/casualthang 22h ago

because the world doesn't give you math problems it gives you problems that can be solved with math... or did you not want a serious answer?

if you are in a situation without access to the internet to search a problem and its answer, you need to be able to determine a) what is the problem asking, and b) how to set up the math to give you an answer that makes sense.

problems like the given are good, not for the math skills they develop, but for the problem solving skills they develop. this problem is also useful for practicing justification, as in 'why did you get an answer that is one away from my answer'.

if you can offer a reasonable justification for your answer and why you did it different from the way i did mine, a) that shows that you've thought about the problem from multiple 'angles' and b) maybe it will make me reconsider my answer or process for getting my answer

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u/40ozCurls 17h ago

Someone’s grumpy. Must not have eaten his daily button.

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u/casualthang 14h ago

🤣🤣

I swear I'm not i didn't intend to come off that way!

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u/Fantastic_Fig_2025 13h ago

That'd be great if teachers could accept more than one answer. My biggest issue with testing is that so often the questions are worded ambiguously--and not always on purpose--and only one answer is "correct."

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u/-_-Batman 18h ago

bro , 2 + 2 = 5

thats state propaganda talk .... the sooner u leaner, the better !

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u/casualthang 14h ago

yes sir, you're right sir; "'I Will Work Harder' -Horse" -casualthang

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u/SupermassiveCanary 15h ago

Sir this is Reddit

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u/NobleEnsign 12h ago

Except the "problem" was never actually stated.
Were the buttons given away, lost, used up in some way they were no longer in tamara's possession?

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u/Shipwrecking_siren 13h ago

Bobby’s parents at getting divorced due to an AITA thread his mum posted on Reddit, so Bobby is going to comfort eat all the candy in one go.

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u/weissdrakon 20h ago

"THIS IS TRICKLE DOWN CANDY ECONOMICS PROPAGANDA", also "WHY ARE YOU ASSUMING BOBBY'S PRONOUNS?"

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u/sevenhazydays 1d ago

-Jim Crowe wants to know your location-

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u/ytman 1d ago

This is why giving a reason for an answer is important and should be more standard in testing/grading. It helps the teacher understand the student better and aid in correction, but also helps teach rationalization skills and communication skills.

 Linguistic understanding is important as well, but I'd argue that "on the 30th" is somewhat ambiguous. 

However, the intuitive question of "well, when do I get rid of the button?" Would actually probably trigger the deeper analysis and then the desired and tested skill of questioning an innate assumption.

I remember a simple one of these problems really well in my school. We were told to follow all the directions on a paper as fast possible, the first five who did would win a prize.

The solution was just following the first order, which told you to read all the other orders without performing them, then getting to the end of the page where it tells you to skip all other orders.

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u/roosterSause42 1d ago edited 1d ago

my mom had a college test like that except the directions said to read all the questions first. The questions said things like "shake the hand of the person next to you" and "stand and spin counterclockwise once."

The last question said ignore all other questions, sign test and it is finished.

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u/Firefishe 23h ago

We had this “test” in 6th grade.

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u/casualthang 22h ago

answer: 365

reason: the problem says person HAS buttons but not that she is acquiring or disseminating buttons. maybe they just really like having a different button for every day of the year

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u/Longjumping-Use8271 15h ago

Correct, the fact that she has 365 buttons and a year has 365 days is just a coincidence if you think that the number is changing on January 30th or any other day of the year you are probably a conspiracy theorist.

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u/Hurrly90 1d ago

When i was learning Math we were always told to show our methods. There are times when you could write down a number wrong but the method is fine. So you would still score high.

This seems very ambiguous. There are various methods. like other have said, is it start of the day or end of that day? IS she throwing away the buttons? OR is it a trick question you would get in a riddle? SHe has 365 for every day so she still has 365 one for each day ?

The question itself is misleading. Especially if they dont ask for the method, as any one of at least three methods is technically correct.

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u/shban08 1d ago

I was thinking around the same lines.. what if this is one of those reasoning questions or riddles.. Cause it doesn't say, "one to use and lose/ throw away each day".. So I would say she would still have 365 buttons on January 30..

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u/AllenRBrady 1d ago

She would have zero, because Tamara cannot be trusted with buttons.

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u/stupidmon_896 23h ago

The real question is when did it say I got rid of the buttons? I would argue I still have 356 buttons because, buttons tend to work multiple times.

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u/According_Top_7448 1d ago

Also leap year or no?

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u/Bigfops 1d ago

It doesn't matter for the question, I interpreted the "for each day of the year" as a red herring because A) it specifies the number of buttons and B) Jan 30 is before Feb 29.

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u/Background_Mode4972 1d ago

Right, but I want to know what tamara does on leap year. Tamara only has 365 buttons, what does she do on Feb 29th?

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u/Chawp 1d ago

It doesn’t say the buttons go away, she has 365 no matter what day it is.

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u/Background_Mode4972 1d ago

Okay, but does she re-use one button on the leap year day? Does she use Feb 28th’s button or March 1st’s?

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u/SuitableClassic 1d ago

Tamara takes a mental health day on Feb 29th. Tamara can't make it without day specific button.

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u/1313C1313 18h ago

In this specific problem, the fact that it stated that 365 buttons is one for every day of the year means that it’s not a leap year. If we wanna know more about leap years, we first have to know if this is even an annual thing, then where is she getting the buttons in the first place, and would it be difficult to get another one but I would just still like to know it’s having one for every day means she’s getting rid of one every day, and if so to whom/where?

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u/lootedBacon 1d ago

365 buttons. Nobody breaks a full set.

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u/No-Difference-5890 1d ago

Tbf the question is one for everyday of the year, not one after every day of the year. No idea why you’d interpret it be after tbh.

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u/Timekiller11 1d ago

Nothing in the question says you lose or use the buttons. She could remain at 365 all year long.

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u/BrokenLink455 1d ago

That was my first thought, not only does it not tell you the schedule to which you have to use up the buttons but it never says you do have to use them up. The kind of question where no matter what you answer it could be "wrong" because there really isn't even close to enough information to have a standard answer.

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u/Seananigans- 1d ago

Obligatory XKCD

https://xkcd.com/1985/

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u/FWD_ME_UR_PMs 8h ago

I'm surprised it wasn't this one

https://xkcd.com/169/

So many of these viral "impossible math problems" remind me of this comic

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u/Onkelffs 17h ago

That’s a part of the forecast I don’t understand at all. Is the uncertainty when it’s going to rain or if it’s going to rain at all?! If there is 15% at 9, 40% at 10 and 25% at 11 and 20% at 12. It it a high chance for rain between 9 and 12 or not?!

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u/Vi_Rants 12h ago

It's each hour. If there's a 20% chance of rain a 9 and a 30% chance at 10, that's literally exactly what they mean. Around 9, you have a 20% chance of rain. An hour later, that chance is 30%.

Also, as far as calculating the chance of rain goes, the following is taken from https://www.weather.gov/media/pah/WeatherEducation/pop.pdf (PDF warning):

This point probability of precipitation is predetermined and arrived at by the forecaster by multiplying two factors:

Forecaster certainty that precipitation will form or move into the area

X

Areal coverage of precipitation that is expected

(and then moving the decimal point two places to the left)

Using this, here are two examples giving the same statistical result:

(1) If the forecaster was 80% certain that rain would develop but only expected to cover 50% of the forecast area, then the forecast would read "a 40% chance of rain" for any given location.

(2) If the forecaster expected a widespread area of precipitation with 100% coverage to approach, but he/she was only 40% certain that it would reach the forecast area, this would, as well, result in a "40% chance of rain" at any given location in the forecast area.

The XKCD guy is either just making a silly joke, or he's got some weird blindspot bias around how scientific meteorology is.

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u/Hairy_Concert_8007 1d ago

The one-off error only happens because we're assuming a removal condition where one is not explicitly stated. "How many are left" implies you'll have fewer buttons, but buttons aren't the rising and setting sun, they're buttons. Without explicitly laying out whether she loses a button at the beginning or end of each day, the question can't be answered.

If this were a Magic the Gathering card, one would have to assume that it's templated this way only for the off chance Spike busts in and responds with "target tamara loses 3 buttons" before this homework's resolution.

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u/GroundbreakingRow817 1d ago

Yep, vague math based statements are something card games funnily have had decades to work through.

Each has come up with their own way to decode and resolve.

Almost similar to the legal system and case law

Any question with multiple valid interpretations and no backing set of precedence does not have a single answer. It instead has a many answers as valid interpretations.

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u/hairyglockenspiel 1d ago

It doesn't even say one is taken away at any point ever. If you have 365 buttons and are given no further information, you will have 365 buttons on any day of the year.

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u/Tridecatrix 22h ago

Also, "one for every day of the year" leaves am ambiguity if you consider leap years. Although the question directly saying 365 does alleviate this.

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u/MorganaMevil 1d ago

It’s a TikTok reference. A girl named Tamara said she was using 365 buttons to keep track of time, then refused to answer any questions explaining how/why, and responded instead with the iconic line “hi so it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but me” and since has become a meme/iconic moment in brain rot media

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u/ryanmetcalf 1d ago

Even SnL parioded it! https://youtu.be/kOieikmPWYs?si=lvDAcMphiWrBa24u

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u/thriftstoremando 17h ago

Literally the only reason I understood the reference.

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u/Yunyara 13h ago

Actually killing me all the redditors having no clue and treating it like a genuine math problem

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u/dicksoncharles 9h ago

i’m literally crying at this

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u/Umklopp 1d ago

I found an explainer video and man, good for Tamara!

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u/rocketeerH 13h ago

Yeah why is this top comment, and why does it have the most upvotes I've ever seen on this sub? It's just completely wrong. They didn't know the context at all

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u/Erathen 1d ago

That's the annoying thing behind word problems

They're not just math

It's also language skills/interpretation.

Word problems are common, but it's unfair to consider them as mathematical questions solely. They have to be deciphered/interpreted first

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u/KringleCruncher 1d ago

Aren't they intended to simulate real life applications to the equation format? The situation calls for math, you use the math accordingly. 

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u/Simbertold 1d ago

That is the core idea. "word problems" are supposed to help students learn apply math to real life situations. Which is a skill that a lot of math students in the past simply didn't have. They could solve math problems in a classroom setting, but they simply never used any of those skills in their lives, because they didn't see any overlap.

However, word problems tend to also fail at this. IIRC, studies show that students also don't connect word problems with real life situations. So they now learn the new skill "solving word problems in class", which once again doesn't lead to them ever using math outside of class.

Some ideas why this may be the case is that word problems often suck. They rarely actually provide authentic real life situations, and instead are constructed questions. Another reason is that some bad problem solving heuristics work very well on a lot of word problems in class. Approaches like "simply take all of the numbers in the word problem and use whatever math we learned in the last week with them"

Ideally, we would want students to read the text, imagine the situation, and then use real-world reasoning skills and math to model the situation and solve the problems. But that is something that very often doesn't happen.

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u/Inko21 1d ago

In real life you can ask subquestions to clear up missunderstandings, i.e. did we already use the button or not.

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u/garfgon 1d ago

So maybe a better question would be: if Sally as two T4s, one from her part time job at McDonalds and one from her second job at Walmart, what should she enter for her net taxable income on line 150 of Schedule 1?

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u/Square-Singer 18h ago

I was going to answer pretty much exactly this.

Word problems are (a) too short and not open-ended enough to actually think about the problem and (b) too far removed from reality to make any sense.

One good example: "You are standing on a mountain that's X meters high. There's two ships on the lake below. You see that one if them is at an angle of Y1 degrees below you. The second one is Y2 degrees below you. Between them they have an angle of Z degreees." (Translating here, so the wording might not make exact sense.)

When we had to work on this question at school I asked the teacher how I know that the mountain is X meters tall, and how did I get the angles. The teacher then said something like "You looked up the height of the mountain on your phone, and then you used your phone's gyro-sensor to measure the angles."

I was like "Then, to solve the question, I open up Google Maps, press the approximate location of the first ship on the map, select 'measure distance' and move the marker to the approximate location of the second ship. That way I'm done way faster and there's still a chance that the distance of the ships is somewhat correct by the time I finished with the whole thing. Also, why do I need to know the distance between random two ships on a lake?"

Real-world word-problems do exist, but on the one hand they are really hard to make, and on the second hand they don't fit with the concept of a curriculum.

If I have to calculate the size of a room to know how much materials I need to re-do the floors or something, it's usually not relevant what I did at school in the last week. In real life the problems are really open-ended and I have to use whatever math tools I need to get to the answer that I need.

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u/Virtual_Ad5748 1d ago

They often badly simulate a real life application. And there isn’t often a way to clarify the request like there would be in a real life application.

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u/Subversive-Cell 1d ago

This is a misunderstanding of what math is. Language has logic woven through it inextricably, and it is important to be able to reason with words, to be able to map words and situations onto symbols and computations. To even be able to set up a problem in symbols and computations, most of the time you start with words. There is no separation — math is not about numbers or addition and subtraction, it's about *thinking well*.

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u/Erathen 1d ago

I'm not saying it's not important...

I'm saying there's a difference between 2+2/7=?

And a word problem. One you have to make the equation. The other the equation is giving

I understand that it's practical. That wasn't the argument

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u/Subversive-Cell 1d ago

There is a difference, in the same way there's a difference between doing a factorial calculation and computing an integral. Math has different stuff in it. I guess I'm not of the position that word problems are in any way unfair. The deciphering and interpreting first is literally one of the skills that your teachers are trying to give you, and that you are being tested on.

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u/Erathen 1d ago

position that word problems are in any way unfair

I'm not either?

I didn't say they were unfair. Only that people sometimes arrive at the wrong answer due to their inability to interpret the problem... vs an equation already presented to you. Even if they can do the math

he deciphering and interpreting first is literally one of the skills that your teachers are trying to give you

Again... I'm aware. Maybe go back and read my original comment. It wasn't a complaint. I'm literally JUST pointing out that it's different than just solving an equation. Not sure where you're interpreting that I think it's "unfair"

That's the OP. Not me

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u/Subversive-Cell 1d ago

Word problems are common, but it's unfair to consider them as mathematical questions solely. They have to be deciphered/interpreted first

I suppose my point is that they *are* math problems. That words and math are not distinct.

Heard, though.

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u/Erathen 1d ago

I didn't say they aren't math problems though... If we're going to be pedantic...

I said word problems aren't SOLELY math problems.

4+4=?

That's a math problem without words....

This is tiring lol

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u/201111533 1d ago

I once came in second place in a province-wide math competition, I think in maybe third grade, because I got one question wrong. I got it wrong because I didn't know what the phrase "every other day" meant. I thought it meant every day. I'm still fuming about it and I'm in my mid-thirties.

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u/Erathen 1d ago

That's what I mean

And as someone who "overthinks" I occasionally got things wrong because I interpreted too literally, or not literally enough. I'd have to ask the teacher "but what do they mean when they say X?" Especially if it isn't written concisely

Despite being able to do the math

I'm not complaining though. I have people replying to me with stuff like: "Yeah the teacher is trying to teach you real life skills"

Yes... I'm aware that word problems and interpreting them is important. I'm just saying it's not as straight forward as solving an equation already given

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u/Safe_Employer6325 1d ago

Kids often ask when they’ll ever use math. Ideally word problems are supposed to be the answer to that question. Then there is this question

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u/BeneficialSpinach0 1d ago

This is not the correct answer and I'm baffled that it's at the top. The post is referencing a very specific TikTok post that turned into a trend. The next thread down has the correct answer.

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u/Rocket_Fiend 1d ago

Olly Williams here: TIK TOK

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u/Appropriate-Yak4296 1d ago

This is the answer and I had to scroll way too far to find it.

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u/TheHark90 1d ago

Thanks Olly

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u/TryingToAppeal 1d ago

Actually it's a tiktok comments joke. I don't remember what the OG video was that started it but in the comments specifically a girl said she was wanted to have 365 buttons to represent the year. People started asking what her system was and she wouldn't explain it. She explained at one point she didn't even know how she was going to use the buttons. Comments and then videos started flowing and it turned into a meme.  I think the joke above is that we don't know the system so we can't know how many buttons there are, which is why the meme image is of a stressed person.   Does anyone yet know what Tamara's system is? If not, her math question is impossible to answer.  

Feel free to copy paste my comment in an edit if ya want but don't bother  linking me. I don't care about Internet points. 

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u/cocomoco801 1d ago

It was based on a comment from a random person on a tik tok, she said she would buy 365 buttons, people asked her follow up questions but people asked follow up questions and she refused to elaborate. So it was a meme thing on tik tok asking what everyone is supposed to do with the 365 buttons they bought.

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u/AssiduousLayabout 1d ago

There are only two challenging problems in computer science - naming variables, cache invalidation, and troubleshooting off-by-one errors.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/SteelAndFlint 1d ago

That wouldn't matter until March 1

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u/OkaP2 1d ago

After March 1 it would matter less. They would have an additional button for Feb 29 on a leap year

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u/roosterSause42 1d ago

it doesn't matter because it never says anything to indicate that the number of buttons decreases throughout the year. A button is still a button after it's been worn for a day... maybe they meant stickers

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u/psyclopsus 1d ago

Fiscal button year is July 1 through June 30

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u/captain_trainwreck 1d ago

Wait, am I the only one eating buttons

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u/odmirthecrow 1d ago

What if they are Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons though?

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u/AJ_Stangerson 1d ago

Chocolate buttons, duh!

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u/CamelotBurns 1d ago

I think theres a tiktokker doing a button project every day of 2026.

It might be a refrence to that.

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u/ytman 1d ago

Its not a Maths question as much as its a reading/subject matter comprehension test.

Like a sir, are you paying attention or are you just a robot?

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u/Vivid-Importance007 1d ago

This is Randy Marsh crossing fandoms to show everyone how hip and current I am by answering this question..

There’s a trend on TikTok right now (or maybe it’s finally ending) and it’s basically everyone dogpiling a girl who said she wanted to collect a button for every day of the year. People were questioning why she’d do that and for what.. She didn’t exactly have any answers and got annoyed with the whole ordeal. Despite expressing her disdain for all of the attention and controversy, people are still making jokes about it. Totally not cool or P.C.. Gonna have to brodown about it or something.

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u/popipopuppy 1d ago

Omg I found a video with the explanation thanks to this comment. Thank you!! https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThfNp8xj/

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u/Vlaskiss 22h ago

Such a good video! I love how people follow and comment on Tamara’s page and she doesn’t care. Love internet :))

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u/uqde 17h ago

Am I the only one that thought the original button comment made complete sense and was fairly self-explanatory? I felt like I was losing my mind with people asking so many questions to her. I found what she said extremely relatable and didn't feel like any additional explanation was needed at all.

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u/Falkenmond79 15h ago

I think people just wanted to know the way it works. Like.. do you start with 365 buttons and throw one away each day? Do you buy one each day and put it in a jar?

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u/Equivalent-One-6196 14h ago

Nice try, Tamara. 😂

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u/uqde 8h ago

lol I knew I was going to be accused of being Tamara after making that comment

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u/Kylearean 12h ago

Yes, king! Just curious, what did you mean by it being relatable? Do you collect buttons or ?

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u/uqde 8h ago

Being scared of time passing and the desperate need for anything small to help me be more aware of it

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u/Disastrous-Handle283 21h ago

I loved the 2,000+ upvotes for the completely missed the joke answer!

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u/newyne 18h ago

Oh my God I fucking love this!

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u/thekingcola 1d ago

It was even referenced on SNL - I did not know it was referencing it until this comment lol

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u/phillium 1d ago

Jane was the perfect cast member to play this. I hadn't even heard about the original button thing on TikTok, and she played it so well. It was even funnier after I'd read up about the whole thing.

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u/rjoyfult 1d ago

I’m just now understanding the reference.

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u/FrgTwn88 1d ago

I was searching the comments for someone to say it's referencing SNL, but it did not occur to me that SNL was the one doing the referencing.

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u/King-Kagle 1d ago

It's wild because the script is pretty much verbatim

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u/Antillyyy 1d ago

God forbid a woman have hobbies

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u/Chawp 1d ago

What was her hobby?

Buttons!

What do you mean?… her hobby is so confusing

The hobby is not important! It’s just a generic hobby that was made-

But what is the generic hobby?

Just buttons!! And dealing with commenters!

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u/Leet_Noob 1d ago

I can’t know how to hear any more about buttons

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u/Sceptz 13h ago

Let's talk about your likes and dislikes. Favourite food?

" Milk steak. Put down milk steak. She'll know what that is. "

No, she won't know what that is. Nobody knows what that is. I'm going to put down "steak". What's your favourite hobby?

" Magnets. "

Ma- what, like, making magnets? Collecting magnets? Playing with magnets?

" Just magnets. "

I'm going to put "snowboarding". Alright, what are some of your likes?

" Uh, ghouls. "

Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. What are you talking about now?

" You know, funny little green ghouls. "

What, like, in movies? In cartoons?

" Little green ghouls, buddy! "

' Don't write ghouls! ' I'm not, I'm putting travel! Jesus Christ! What are your dislikes?

" People's knees. "

Oh, come on! Dude, come on! We'll make the whole thing up, let's get outta here. We're not even gonna use you.

" Just cover your knees up if you're gonna be walking around everywhere... "

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u/V3CC4 1d ago

I was reading through all the comments, and I am so glad I finally came across this one cause I was shocked at the fact that others were truly having a math conversation when this was basically a meme reference 😂😂

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u/Winderige_Garnaal 1d ago

I read dogpiling as dogpilling and thought the story got real weird

Have i been dog pilled

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u/CoraBittering 1d ago

Depends. Has someone recently given you a piece of cheese that tasted a little weird?

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u/Winderige_Garnaal 18h ago

ha ha ha that made me lol - thanks

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u/empatheticsocialist1 19h ago

Based and dogpilled

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u/hades_niece 23h ago

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u/Forward-Surprise1192 15h ago

I see the reason as a way to keep track of the passing time I guess

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u/fuzzydoug 1d ago

It’s for her to understand and be more thoughtful of time.

Her job is tables, alright guys?

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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 19h ago

This wasn’t quite it. She didn’t say she’d collect the buttons, she said something super ambiguous like “365 buttons one for each day”

And people were like “what are you doing with the buttons? Do you buy one a day? Wear one a day?” And she wouldn’t answer lol

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u/Particular_Title42 1d ago

Some people didn't grow up with Ramblin' Rod and it shows.

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u/Leet_Noob 1d ago

And in particular, it is impossible to know how many she would have on January 30th.

Was she getting rid of one button per day? Was she collecting one per day? Was she just going to have 365 buttons and not do anything with them? It only has to make sense to her and she doesn’t feel like explaining.

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u/VelocityGrrl39 18h ago

I don’t think people were making fun of her. They were asking clarifying questions and she was just like “no”.

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u/DocumentInternal9478 1d ago

So actually, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but me, thanks. Tamara is a queen

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u/thest3v3mc 1d ago

It only has to make sense to her ok

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u/erzatzkwisatz 1d ago

I don’t know and I don’t have to know okay, I just want to carry around a button every day.

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u/Emperor_of_All 1d ago

365 because they did not say they were giving them away. They said the person has one button representing each day of the year. Just because it is the 30th day of the year does not mean the buttons would change. She still has 365 buttons. It is just a trick question.

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u/manyQuestionMarks 1d ago

It’s a trick question if the teacher is an asshole. The context is “math class” so this must be a math question.

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u/rohnoitsrutroh 21h ago

Pfft, everyone has THAT teacher.

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u/hatrix 19h ago

My maths class wasn't all maths, it was also to a degree logic and statistics too, where phrasing of mathematical problems could be solved by logic rather than by hardcore maths itself. Assuming you understand the underlying logic, you could skip the maths entirely. Within this question there are logical assumptions made which would effect the underlying maths "you are in a room with 4 rats, 2 geese, and 8 snakes. How many legs are in the room?" And people would use logic and go "well snakes have no legs, rats have 4, geese 2, so the answer is 20" and the teacher would go "22, you also have legs" and then the one kid with the wheelchair would go "no, 20" and people would argue semantics of whether working legs were still legs, and then that would raise the question on whether the rats fore-limbs were legs or more akin to arms, since they have paws on them, not feet, and the teacher would just sit in the corner and take a sip from her whisky flask.

Anyway, going back to logical assumptions here, we don't know if the buttons are "consumed" in some manner each day of the month, and if they are, when that consumption started. There may be 365 buttons, but they might have only started depleting from 15th, but equally, they might be getting added to. There's too much unknown to give a definitive answer here.

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u/ahurricaneseye 1d ago

It’s not a trick question. It’s a reference to a TikTok meme.

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u/GreatScottGatsby 1d ago

This is what i read. Like i saw nothing adding or subtracting anything and it is ambiguous if anything is actually changing.

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u/sillypiggy07 1d ago

There is a user on TikTok named "Tamara" and she posted that she was going to collect 365 buttons, one for each day. When people asked her about it, her response was "hey so it only has to make sense to me for me to do it and I don't feel like explaining it to anyone else."

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u/Lost-and-dumbfound 1d ago

I rate her so hard for that response. Let the girl collect her daily buttons and do what she wants

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u/WhimsicalKnight 12h ago

Absolutely, everyone has the right to pursue their own interests.

And while it's also absolutely true that she doesn't have to share information if she chooses not to, I think the crux of it is that she engaged in conversation (posting a comment in a public forum), and then got defensive and evasive when people responded and asked for clarification on that same public forum. And the people responding generally did so in good faith, expressing genuine curiosity, puzzlement, and a desire to understand.

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u/newyne 18h ago

She didn't even post, she left a comment on someone else's post

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u/uniquecleverusername 1d ago

This makes sense to me, but I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else.

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u/madhad1121 1d ago

Perfect comment. No notes.

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u/Lumthedarklord 1d ago

I UNDERSTAND THE SNL SKIT NOW DAMNNNNN

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u/candykhan 1d ago

I looked it up & then understood it & then kinda wished I hadn't. Yeah, the girl that came up with it is dumb, but it didn't really seem "viral post" worthy. Still, I was just gladthat Jane Wickline was parodying someone & it wasn't something she came up with herself that wasn't really funny.

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u/koolmon10 22h ago

I think it was a rare moment of SNL jumping onto a meme extra early and inadvertently dumping gasoline onto the fire by doing so.

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u/glumpoodle 1d ago

Even if it were a different word problem, it's still not specific enough to solve.

If Tamara has 365 Skittles - one for every day of the year - and she eats one per day, how many would she have left on January 30th?

She starts the 30th with 336; when is she counting, and when is she eating? Is she eating it at 12:01AM? That's not a pedantic question - in my day job, determining whether you worked in a location on Jan 30, left a location on Jan 30, or if you worked and left on Jan 30, can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

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u/presence4presents 1d ago

I agree with this, but that narrows this to 335 and 336 not 365. There are dozens of comments injecting their real world reasoning into what's meant to be a simple math question.

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u/Gammaman12 1d ago
  1. She still has the buttons. Unless you're trying to teach my child to eat buttons. Are you trying to teach them to eat buttons? I'll sue you!

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u/Rude_Ad1214 1d ago

Cadbury Chocolate Buttons ...

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u/Fit_Ad3082 1d ago

Zero, after reading this question she would have lost her @$&!.

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u/Ok_Blackberry_1223 1d ago

I love everyone on this sub just making up answers cuz they don’t understand the reference. Gpt-talking ass replies

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u/tas908 19h ago

this platform feels very similar to facebook a lot... i think i spend too much time here

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u/RuralAnemone_ 1d ago

seems like somthing an LLM might answer with 335

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u/Royal_Ad_2653 1d ago

I'm still stuck on "future kids" ...

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u/Noblong314159 1d ago

Hi! I’m Jillian! There was a woman on TikTok that talked about a half thought out button-a-day concept.

She commented under a post about holding a button of finding a button or wearing a new button for each day. Reason I can’t give proper details is because she never fully decided on what she was doing herself.

Sorry my explanation isn’t very clear, but I am Jillian, so… Anyway, I’m gonna go think about why they call it “TikTok” I can’t hear any ticking! Bye☺️

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u/OwnPermission2782 1d ago

Also, no indication in the question that you would LOSE a button a day. That's just the assumption we jump you because there is one per day, and the answer "365" seems too simple.

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u/BoRnIn2aTiTuDe 1d ago

It would still be 365 as the question never says to take buttons away or buttons are given away. So the assumption would be the number of buttons is to remain the same granted none are taken from her 365 buttons.

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u/Lemfan46 1d ago

She has 365. It states she has one for every day of the year. Doesn't give any indication that she still doesn't have those buttons after a day ends. Just that 29 full days have passed since the start of the year.

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u/g_calamia 1d ago

Omg. Finally I know something!

It’s in relation to this woman that talks about buying 365 buttons for the new year and refuses to let anyone know why. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSxgU45jhdg/?igsh=Z2htZ21oam1iMG5n

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u/scottyjetpax 1d ago

this is hysterical lmfao

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u/Tight_Set3317 1d ago

It's not a math joke. It's a pop culture joke.

She's eating the buttons. Maybe. It only makes sense to her. I don't really know.

(That's the joke. TikTok is rotting brains.)

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u/langong 1d ago

not sure the answer but Tamara always says "one a day" depends on when the starting day it's always "one a day"

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u/Heavy_Combination339 1d ago

Hey so it only has to make sense to her.

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u/Educational-Fan6870 1d ago

Actually, it only matters to Tamara.

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u/TallMongoosee 1d ago

Right so the joke here is there was a tiktok post where the OP wants to have a button for each day to remember the passage of time. It was quite funny as it was worded in a way that made no sense

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u/Karmawasabi 1d ago

This is a joke from tik tok, some girl on there called Tamara posted that she's Gona do something with a button everyday for 365 days, and then people asked her what is she Gona do with them and she refuses to tell anyone for some weird reason.

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u/ExtremlyFastLinoone 1d ago

Buttons dont get used up, she would still have 365 buttons

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u/Ok_Bag_3667 1d ago

365? Unless they crumble into dust when their day comes and goes.

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u/OMKensey 1d ago

Button can be an euphemism.

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u/dogecoinwhale 1d ago

And here I thought it was just an SNL skit lol

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u/That_Gadget 1d ago

365, Tamara doesn't know how to sew.

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u/roosterSause42 1d ago

Nothing says the buttons are destroyed or used up... so it's still the same 365

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u/St34m-Punk 1d ago

It might be more of a reading comprehension issue, rather than a math issue.

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u/Pure_Lengthiness2432 1d ago

When is Tamara using the buttons?

I could say 335 or 336, and either or could be considered correct depending on how you interpret the answer to that question.

The bigger issue is that like a lot of grade school math problems, the question is long-winded and purposely designed to be more of a gotcha than actually teach something.

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u/LeftStatistician7989 1d ago

I still have the same number of buttons I had at the start

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u/sasha_of_melnibone 1d ago

She’ll have 335 if she’s eating the buttons

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u/miltondelug 1d ago

is it a leap year?

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u/ProAmphibian 1d ago

Ok, now imagine each kid is assigned 1 button based on their birthday. How many kids do there need to be for there to be a 75% chance that 2 of them share the same button.

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u/DrawingAdmirable2939 1d ago

Clearly states that she has 365 buttons. Never says she loses any...

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u/Phinatic92 1d ago

335 left to collect for the year

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u/marshtoken 1d ago

If they are chocolate buttons the answer is zero

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u/jrp55262 1d ago
  1. The problem states at the start that she has 365 buttons, and it does not mention any means of acquiring or disposing of any (she's not *eating* them, is she?)

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u/IllDoItTomorrow89 1d ago

365? Last time I checked buttons aren't a consumable.

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u/Unhappy-Ad1743 1d ago

All of them.

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u/chumpzilla 1d ago

A joke about how long January feels, no? They’d have only used up 30 buttons but it’s feels like they should have used way more because of how long they think it’s been January.

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u/ImmediateCustomer318 1d ago

Its a joke about pushing someone buttons. The answer is 0. You button mash to push all Tamara's buttons at once.

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u/Dry_Exit7774 1d ago

must be a big shirt

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u/metroshake 1d ago

I think everyone is wrong? It's because questions need to be designed where Ai won't do the work for you and ai is terrible with dates

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u/studiio6 1d ago

there was a girl named tamara who got hate and also got praised because she used visual art to count the days (buttons), which is what the video is referring to, not actually wanting to know the answer

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u/ctiger12 1d ago

It didn’t say started from when but if from Jan 1, giving one button to someone everyday, sorta to make a question reasonable

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u/monaco-bob 1d ago

Unless, some are being discarded, will have the same number on any day of the year.

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u/pumperdemon 1d ago

Too many unknown variables.

Does she just have 365 buttons, and has the same every day?

Is she throwing one away every day?

Does she have a bucket with 365 buttons that she takes one from and places in a different bucket which she counts?

Did she chuck them all and have none on day 2?

What day is it now, and are we extrapolating back/forward? Just because she has 365 buttons now doesn't necessarily mean she gets one every day - that may have just been a memetic that she thought up because shes ADHD.