At first glance, this math puzzle looks incredibly easy: 6 + 6 × 2 + 2 = ? Yet two students in the image confidently give different answers—26 and 20. So, who is actually right? The puzzle is designed to test whether you remember one of the most basic rules of mathematics: the correct order of operations.

The key is to remember that multiplication must be performed before addition. You cannot simply calculate the numbers from left to right. First, solve 6 × 2, which equals 12. The equation then becomes 6 + 12 + 2. Once the multiplication is finished, the remaining additions can be calculated normally.

That gives us 6 + 12 + 2 = 20. Therefore, the student who answered 20 is correct. The answer 26 comes from adding the first two 6s before multiplying, which ignores the standard order of operations. Without following that rule, it is very easy to arrive at the wrong result.

These puzzles are popular because they look simple but can quickly expose a small mathematical mistake. The next time you see an equation containing addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, remember the basic rule: multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction, unless parentheses tell you otherwise. So, did you get 20 on your first try?