1869 MIT entrance exam paper goes viral because it is too easy. Can you crack it?

New Delhi:

A questionnaire from the 1869 Massachusetts Institute of Technology entrance exam recently gained attention on social media for being “surprisingly easy.”

The June 1869 paper was published eight years after the institute's founding. It was shared on social media by a Reddit user and contained seven questions from the algebra section

MIT entrance examination for 1869-1870
byu/Sans010394 in Damn, that's interesting

Widely considered the world's leading institution in engineering, mathematics and science, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been home to over 101 Nobel Prize winners and 8 Fields Medalists, either as faculty or alumni, since its founding in 1861, nearly 200 years ago

With an acceptance rate of only 4%, getting into the institute is extremely difficult. Candidates must go through several rounds of selection and demonstrate exceptional academic performance. You also have to do impressive extracurricular activities and write essays. Even with these qualifications, a place at this renowned institution is not guaranteed.

The Reddit post has sparked a wave of curiosity and discussion among users, with many claiming that the exam task is extremely easy to solve.

“None of the above problems require a calculator! They only require basic knowledge of algebra. “To be honest, most can be solved in your head without even putting pen to paper,” one user wrote on Reddit.

“Yes, these are surprisingly easy, I haven't actually solved them, but there's nothing here I can't solve and I only have high school level math from decades ago,” another user wrote.

While many users argued that the question was too easy to solve, others had a different opinion and said it was more difficult to solve than it seemed.

“This was just the entrance exam and consisted of several sections – there was also a section for geometry and arithmetic.”

Additionally, you are expected to perform these calculations without assistance (i.e., without a slide rule). “MIT had not yet developed its reputation at this point and was only eight years old,” one user wrote.

The original exam reportedly included additional sections on geometry, arithmetic, English and calculus.