A brainteaser posted on TikTok asks people to move two toothpicks around in a particular way – but many users quickly pointed out a flaw in the question to begin with
A brainteaser asks Brits to correctly move a couple of toothpicks and then you can declare yourself a genius – sounds easy, right?
A post on TikTok lays out the brainteaser in full so you can try it at home. In it, you can see four squares made out of 12 toothpicks. A man in the clip then explains: “Okay, here’s the challenge – you have to move two toothpicks to get six squares.” This leaves his friend to work out how to successfully arrange the toothpicks around and complete the test.
However, after moving two of them he ends up with just three squares. “So you went from four to three,” the man points out. The stumped friend then gives up as the trick to solving it is then finally revealed. “Okay I’ll show you how to do it. This ones really easy.
“So to make six squares all you have to do is take any two of the corners.” Then you’re going to take these two and go right there,” he finishes. While he’s saying this he places a toothpick down the centre of the one of the remaining squares and the other one across the centre of the same square.
This then creates four small squares and leaves two big squares – six in total. The video – called ‘A genius can solve it in 10 seconds!’ – was viewed more than 1,100 time and stirred up plenty of responses. One user complained: “It’s not equal because four of them are small, and two of them are big,” but another noted: “A square is a square no matter the size lol.” However, even more gripes with the puzzle were expressed.
Many said that the there were in fact seven squares left and not six. “Not 6, it is 7 actually,” as someone else concurred: “Actually 7”. One person went a step further and explained: “Found this answer but …. isn’t this actually 7 squares ?? (the bigger one that the 4 are in!?”
Elsewhere, if you love testing yourself this festive season then pull up a chair and get ready to be tested on 20 topics in The Mirror’s pub quiz. Expect to be grilled on the UK’s most common garden bird, previous prime ministers and EastEnders icons. Click here for and try it out for yourself.
