Media outlets around the world went crazy over a 5th grade math exam question in China. But they all missed the real story! The problem actually dates back to French researchers in 1979. In this video I present the real story to the viral "Chinese" captain's age question. Update thanks to comment from Markus Schüt: the origin dates back to 1841 in a letter Flaubert wrote! See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain My blog post for this video: https://wp.me/p6aMk-5rE Captain's age question "If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship's captain?" South China Morning Post http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2130892/26-sheep-10-goats-lot-flak-over-chinese-primary-school-maths-exam The Portal (Chinese) http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1971117 RT https://www.rt.com/news/417231-china-math-problem-sheep-goats/ BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42857864 Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/31/this-chinese-math-problem-has-no-answer-actually-it-has-a-lot-of-them/ Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/can-you-solve-it-bizarre-math-exam-question-leaves-students-scratching-their-796005 Official response (Chinese). http://news.sina.com.cn/s/wh/2018-01-27/doc-ifyqzcxh0729685.shtml Sherlock Holmes' deduction in The Hound of the Baskervilles https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-best-deductions-by-Sherlock-Holmes Novotná, Jarmila, and Bernard Sarrazy. "Model of a professor’s didactical action in mathematics education: professor’s variability and students’ algorithmic flexibility in solving arithmetical problems." The Fourth Congress of the European Society in Mathematics Education. 2005. http://www.erme.tu-dortmund.de/~erme/CERME4/CERME4_WG6.pdf#page=68 de Corte, Eric, Brian Greer, and Lieven Verschaffel, eds. Making Sense of Word Problems. CRC Press, 2000. Pages 3-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=OOyHRpWsI7sC&lpg=PR7&ots=oRk2XlgRGu&dq=%2226%20sheep%22%20%2210%20goats%22%20boat&lr&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q=%2226%20sheep%22%20%2210%20goats%22%20boat&f=false Reusser, Kurt. "Problem solving beyond the logic of things: Contextual effects on understanding and solving word problems." Instructional Science. 17.4 (1988): 309-338. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED270327.pdf Benjamin Dickman Twitter and tweet https://twitter.com/benjamindickman/status/960304080462798851 Benjamin Dickman answer on Math Educators Stack Exchange https://matheducators.stackexchange.com/questions/11543/does-the-how-old-is-the-shepherd-phenomenon-occur-for-more-relatable-word-prob/11546#11546 Gene Wirchenko blog http://genew.ca/solving-the-right-problem-right/ If you like my videos, you can support me at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mindyourdecisions Connect on social media. I update each site when I have a new video or blog post, so you can follow me on whichever method is most convenient for you. My Blog: https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/preshtalwalkar Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mind-Your-Decisions/168446714965 Google+: https://plus.google.com/108336608566588374147/posts Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/preshtalwalkar/ Tumblr: https://preshtalwalkar.tumblr.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/preshtalwalkar/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mindyourdecisions Newsletter (sent only for big news, like a new book release): http://eepurl.com/KvS0r If you buy from the links below I may receive a commission for sales. This has no effect on the price for you. My Books "The Joy of Game Theory" shows how you can use math to out-think your competition. (rated 3.8/5 stars on 31 reviews) http://amzn.to/1uQvA20 "The Irrationality Illusion: How To Make Smart Decisions And Overcome Bias" is a handbook that explains the many ways we are biased about decision-making and offers techniques to make smart decisions. (rated 4.6/5 stars on 3 reviews) http://amzn.to/1o3FaAg "Math Puzzles Volume 1" features classic brain teasers and riddles with complete solutions for problems in counting, geometry, probability, and game theory. Volume 1 is rated 4.4/5 stars on 13 reviews. http://amzn.to/1GhUUSH "Math Puzzles Volume 2" is a sequel book with more great problems. (rated 4.3/5 stars on 4 reviews) http://amzn.to/1NKbyCs "Math Puzzles Volume 3" is the third in the series. (rated 3.8/5 stars on 5 reviews) http://amzn.to/1NKbGlp "40 Paradoxes in Logic, Probability, and Game Theory" contains thought-provoking and counter-intuitive results. (rated 4.3/5 stars on 12 reviews) http://amzn.to/1LOCI4U "The Best Mental Math Tricks" teaches how you can look like a math genius by solving problems in your head (rated 4.7/5 stars on 4 reviews) http://amzn.to/18maAdo "Multiply Numbers By Drawing Lines" This book is a reference guide for my video that has over 1 million views on a geometric method to multiply numbers. (rated 5/5 stars on 3 reviews) http://amzn.to/XRm7M4