At first glance, this viral math puzzle looks simple enough to solve in seconds. The challenge reads, “No Pen, No Paper, Only Use Your Brain!” followed by the equation 12 + 48 ÷ 4! = ? But before choosing an answer, it’s important to understand every symbol in the expression.

Many people assume the exclamation mark is just punctuation and calculate 48 ÷ 4 first, arriving at 24 after adding 12. However, the exclamation mark has a special meaning in mathematics: it represents a factorial. A factorial means multiplying a positive whole number by every positive integer below it, down to 1.

That means 4! = 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24. Once we replace the factorial with its actual value, the equation becomes 12 + 48 ÷ 24. Following the standard order of operations, division must be completed before addition. Since 48 ÷ 24 = 2, the expression simplifies to 12 + 2.

The final calculation is straightforward: 12 + 2 = 14. Therefore, the correct answer is 14, not 24. This puzzle is a good reminder that mathematical symbols can completely change a calculation, even when an equation appears easy. Did you spot the factorial before working out the answer? 🤔