A 30-year-old woman finally figured out a longstanding math question as she played with her child’s toy.
Patrice Iglesias, who posts to TikTok under the username @pat.rice33, went viral after she shared a simple video of her playing with a toy cash register.
Posted on April 24, and boasting more than 4.6 million views, she wrote over the clip as an explanation: “You’re 30 years old playing with your three-year-old’s toy cash register and just realizing what ‘AC’ and ‘CE’ means on a calculator.”
Illustrating her revelation, Iglesias typed in 5 plus 6, but before getting the answer, pushed the CE button, turning the screen back to 0.
Then, she pressed 5 again, and the equals button, getting an answer of 10. At this point, she pressed the AC button, again clearing the screen to 0.
Iglesias then shook her head, looking exasperated with herself—as she had just realized CE clears the last figure entered, while AC clears the entire sum up to that point.
I really thought they both did the same thing just different letters for funsies #ihaveadegree #justsad
“I really thought they both did the same thing just different letters for funsies,” she wrote, adding in hashtags: “I have a degree. Just sad.”
But she wasn’t alone, as TikTok users awarded her video more than 72,000 likes, and hundreds commented on the video, many admitting they were still baffled.
“Wait what are they,” one asked, as another admitted: “I still don’t get it.”
“I’m 32 and I had to come to the comments [for the answer],” another agreed, as one recalled their schooldays: “I never knew what button did what so I would click both, back and forth, until it did what I wanted it to do in the first place.”
Others simply made jokes about what AC and CE meant, with one referencing spells from Harry Potter: “Accio Calculator and Calculator Expelleramous?”
According to a 2016 report from Statista, the United States was the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country struggling the most when it came to mathematical education, with 29 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds not having an adequate level of numerical proficiency.
The US was followed by Italy, at 25.9 per cent, and the United Kingdom at 25.4 per cent. On the other end of the scale, South Korea appeared to struggle with maths the least, at just 7.1 per cent.
In a comment, Iglesias helpfully explained what she was trying to illustrate in the video for the people who still didn’t understand, writing: “AC = All Clear. AC clears the calculator and resets any functions. CE = Clear Entry, which erases the last entry you have keyed in.”
And as one person responded: “I just learned that bc [because] of u.”
Newsweek has contacted @pat.rice33 on TikTok for comment on this story.
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