Um, People Are Completely Losing Their Sh*t Trying to Figure Out This Math Problem

Doug Mataconis really threw the Twitter world for a loop when he challenged the internet to solve a math problem from 10 years ago. And it's safe to say anyone with an account had intense feelings about the question — including frustration and all-out anger.

The question read: "An orchestra of 120 players takes 40 minutes to play Beethoven's 9th Symphony. How long would it take 60 players to play the symphony? Let P be the number of players and T be the time playing."

If you're scratching your head, you're not alone. The Twittersphere was also stumped:

either this is some sort of massive music-nerd troll job or i REBUKE this aggressively https://t.co/HzmmoElG4c

— HexenLeah (@suesswassersee) October 10, 2017

Two options, it is a logic trap question or the question writer is an imbecile.

— D Lindberg (@dlindber) October 9, 2017

This is a management question -- the correct response is the more people involved, the longer it takes.

— Matt Laszuk (@mlasz) October 10, 2017

Luckily, Claire Longmoor, the teacher who actually created the worksheet, cleared up the confusion once and for all:

I wrote this!! How did you get this??? I am a maths teacher in Nottingham, UK. Wrote this 10 years ago. Here is the original whole worksheet pic.twitter.com/jYX55GSBKz

— Claire Longmoor (@LongmoorClaire) October 11, 2017

The right answer? It's a trick question. No matter how many people are playing, the song will take the same amount of time. The world makes sense after all!