At first glance, this equation looks almost too easy: 8 × 8 + 8 × 4 = ? Yet plenty of people rush through it and end up with the wrong answer. The handwritten note even warns, “Answer is: NOT 80.” 👀 So what makes this simple-looking puzzle so tricky?

The confusion usually comes from ignoring the order of operations. Some people work through the equation from left to right, while others combine numbers in ways that aren’t mathematically valid. But multiplication and addition don’t have equal priority. Under PEMDAS/BODMAS, multiplication must be completed before addition.

So, instead of trying to combine everything at once, break the equation into its multiplication parts. First, calculate 8 × 8 = 64. Then calculate 8 × 4 = 32. At this point, the original equation has become much simpler: 64 + 32. 🧠✨

Now there’s only one operation left—addition. 64 + 32 = 96. 🎯 So the correct answer is 96, not 80. The real trick wasn’t the numbers themselves; it was remembering the basic rule that multiplication comes before addition. Did you get 96 on your first try? 👀