No one on the internet can figure out how many squares are in this picture

Facebook / JamesEllisFit

New puzzles that seem to stump everyone on the web pop up all the time. Despite the mass confusion, however, it’s still easy to think “Pssh, I can solve this no problem.” That’s right. We somehow think that we are more clever than the vast majority of the internet.

Delusions of grandeur aside, the fact of the matter is: Some of these puzzles are hard. And here’s yet another one. That is also frustratingly hard. See for yourself.

This particular puzzle has left the internet scratching their heads, although the premise itself is simple: Figure out how many squares are in the picture.

Easy, right? Not so much. This photo has been making the rounds on Facebook and, according to an image that has been circulating the site, 92 percent of people fail to answer the puzzle correctly. There are tons of answers floating around on the web, and people just can’t seem to come to an agreement.

However, there is one correct answer, and you might be surprised at what it is. The catch here is that there are far more squares than there seem to be. Even if you count all the corner squares and the big surrounding square, you might not be getting them all. Go ahead, try to count yourself.

Still stumped? We’ll help you out. The correct answer to the puzzle is 40 squares. That’s right: It’s not 8162428 or 30, and we’ll tell you why. The image is made up of eight tiny squares, 18 single squares, nine 2 x 2 squares, four 3 x 3 squares, and one 4 x 4 square.

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About the Author
Carina Wolff
Carina is a health and wellness journalist based in Los Angeles. When she’s not writing, doing yoga, or exploring mountains and beaches, she spends her time cooking and creating recipes for her healthy food blog, Kale Me Maybe. Carina is also an ongoing writer for Bustle, Reader's Digest, FabFitFun, and more.

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