This viral question has been the talk of media after it was posted by Kenneth Kong on Facebook: When is Cheryl’s birthday?

This picture of a math problem asked to students participating in the Asian Schools Math Olympiad has been the buzz everywhere as all attempt to solve the painstaking riddle.

Now... who thinks they can solve it? No worries, with a little explanation, the answer will be as clear as day.

Cheryl tells Bernard the day and Albert the month. If Albert said he doesn’t know the date, but he knows Bernard doesn’t either, then May and June are automatically ruled out. This is because if Bernard was told the 18 or 19, the date would become obvious.

Bernard replies that he didn’t know before what Albert said, but he did following Albert’s first statement. This means the day was shown more than once before, but is now singled in one month. We can now eliminate July 14 and August 14 because both are shown, and if this was the day, Bernard still wouldn’t know, but he does now.

Here comes the moment of reveal. So if Albert was told the month, and Bernard just said he now knew the date, that means that his month had one date ruled out because Bernard’s number was shown after May and June were eliminated. He now knows it’s July 16 because it’s the only remaining date in his month after he figures that Bernard got rid of May and June earlier.

So how did you solve it? Did you wait and find out, or were you stubborn and insisted on figuring it out for yourself? Whatever your case, this is certain; Cheryl is a complicated friend.