How to Prove 2 + 2 = 5?

This may seem like a trick question, but it’s actually not that difficult to prove! All you need is a little bit of creative thinking along with the talent to fool people into believing that ‘impossible’ is ‘possible’ with a lot of jargon, and you’re all set!

GoAssignmentHelp Math experts were amused by a Quora discussion on the topic. Here are the highlights of the thread:

• Michael Jørgensen says that in Denmark, sales tax is as high as 25%. So, if a customer orders two items of 2 kr each, adding the sales tax to the bill makes it 5 kr. Hence, 2 + 2 = 5.
• RombOt offers a picture of an online mathematical proof commonly available to prove this and then goes on to point out why it’s wrong.

 

He points out that in the second line of the picture where you apply the square root function, you get an absolute value that cannot be negative.

• Christopher Rubin has been creative and uses Roman numerals to prove 2 + 2 = 5. Here’s what he did:

• Sanjay Sabnani has an answer but our online math tutors at GoAssignmentHelp don’t agree with it. He says:

2.49 + 2.49 = 4.98

According to Sanjay, 2.49 rounds down to 2 and 4.98 rounds up to 5.

But our experts say that if we go step-by-step: 2.49 rounds off to 2.5 which rounds off to 3.

But Sanjay does have a point. Our tutors suggest that it would be more appropriate to say:

2.44 + 2.44 = 4.98

Now, 2.44 surely rounds down to 2 and 4.88 rounds up to 5.

• Larry Mann uses geometry to prove this. He says that if you put two squares next to each other, and then, two squares below them, you will get 5 squares. See for yourself:

• Navneet Nair smartly uses algebra to prove 2 + 2 = 5:

H-4njru presents an anthropologist’s answer to a primitive man, “What’s 2 + 2?”. The man joined a rope with two knots and another rope with two knots, counted the knots using his fingers, and said, “Five!”

So, you see, there’s no end to creativity!

With a little bit of imagination, you too can come up with your own ‘proof’ that 2 + 2 = 5! Just be careful not to get too carried away and start believing it yourself – after all, it is just a trick question meant to amuse people, and nothing more!

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