Some people are finding this maths riddle more complicated than Brexit

On the face of it, a simple looking maths riddle. In reality something entirely more complicated, if people’s reactions are anything to go by.

How long will it take you to solve it?

The puzzle was posted by someone called Peerie Breeks on Mumsnet and caused whole swathes of the population to drop everything while they tried to work it out.

‘A man buys a horse for $60. He sells the horse for $70. He then buys the horse for $80. And he sells the horse again for $90.

‘In the end, how much money did the man make or lose? Or did he break even?’

You’ve probably done it already though, right?

Don’t scroll down unless you think you’ve got it (or, like us, given up).

How many horses were there again?

Anyway, here’s the answer. He made $20 profit. And here’s how.

1. Subtract $70 from $60 as the man made a $10 profit when he sold the horse for $10 more than he bought it

2. Subtract $80 from $90 because the man made another $10 profit when he sold the horse again

In other words, or numbers…

70-60=10 and 90-80=10

10+10=20

No way did we just cut and paste that from someone else’s answer sheet.