‘Brain Teaser’: You can only move two matchsticks to get a higher number

Brain teaser, or brain challenges in Portuguese, became popular on the internet due to its easy format, practical to be solved and a lot of fun. Although challenging, exercising them is almost always fun, especially if you're with someone else or if you can compare yourself with other Internet users. The following brain teaser consists of moving two sticks of the figure to form a number greater than ''38''.

Can you solve this visual and mathematical challenge in a few minutes?

Read more:Visual challenge: move only 2 matchsticks and correct the equation

Visual and mathematical challenge involving toothpicks

In the figure above, there are 12 matchsticks that, together, form two numbers. The first number is ''3'', and is made up of three horizontal sticks and two vertical sticks. The number ''8'' is composed of four sticks vertically and three sticks horizontally. Your challenge is to move only 2 matchsticks to create a number greater than 38.

You can start right now, however, if you are more the type of internet user you want to know before knowing some tips, see below:

There are no limits to the amount

It's worth remembering, before you start, that this is an area that may contain spoilers. This can be off-putting for some people, so if you don't want tips on how to solve the challenge, we recommend skipping to the end of this article.

• When seeing a number with two digits, we assume that a number greater than 38 but also with 2 digits needs to be created. That is, up to 99. But that is not true. Remember that you can create a number above 100. Including this is one of the possible answers. The only rule is that the resulting value is greater than ''38'', regardless of how many numbers there are.

How to move the sticks

There are no limits to creativity when it comes to solving brain teasers. For this reason, the game does not dictate whether you should move the matchsticks only horizontally or vertically. Everything is possible: be it placing them diagonally, mirroring the sticks (i.e. rotating them 180º), or moving the sticks at an angle of 90º. The only rules you must adhere to are that you must not move more than two matchsticks and that you must not create a smaller number than the current one.

Result

Since this is a mathematical question involving combinatorial analysis, there are some possible solutions to solve this brain teaser. However, we chose the most intuitive result here and, therefore, it will be commonly chosen by other Internet users. For this reason, see the instructions to get to the result:

• Move the two sticks of the number 3 that were horizontally, to form the number 7;
• In both cases, you must rotate them at a 90º angle. Thus, the two sticks will be vertical;
• Place them one on top of the other in order to create the number 1;
• Insert them before or after the number 78. Thus, you will form the number 781 or the number 178, both greater than 38.