Solve this if you are a genius? This quiz showed up on my Facebook news feed.

8 = 56
7 = 42
6 = 30
5 = 20
3 = ?

The pattern looks pretty easy, right?

8²— 8 = 56
7²— 7 = 42
6²— 6 = 30
5²— 5 = 20

So what is the correct answer?

Here’s mine:

3 = 3 — even if it’s preceded by a bunch of false statements.

Do you agree?

Update. This is an old post and I thought it had seen all the life it was going to see. Then Angel comes and leaves a comment:

It turns out that the “?” can be whatever we want it to be!

Angel backs up his claim with math. I think we have the definitive answer.