Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty recently squared off against each other in a maths competition, a video of which is going viral on Instagram. The friendly competition was held to promote their charity, The Richmond Project, which is dedicated to improving numeracy across the UK.
The premise of the competition was simple — both Sunak and Murty were given a buzzer. A volunteer then read out maths questions of varying difficulty, and whoever knew the answer had to buzz and give the correct answer.
Watch the video below:
The first few questions were relatively simple. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty, who is the daughter of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, had to answer problems like “Simplify the fraction 12/18” or “What are the prime factors of 40”.
{{/usCountry}}The first few questions were relatively simple. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty, who is the daughter of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, had to answer problems like “Simplify the fraction 12/18” or “What are the prime factors of 40”.
{{/usCountry}}Sunak managed to answer many of the questions before his wife, at one point attributing this success to helping his kids with their maths homework.
The couple was then handed a worksheet with more difficult questions. Sunak managed to get the first problem right before his wife, but Murty answered the second question in record time.
Internet reacts
The maths contest received over a million views on Instagram and a ton of comments, many of them praising Sunak.
“I'd love to see any of the current Labour cabinet take this quiz. We voted out an intelligent person for the dimwits we have now,” wrote one viewer.
“The whole of the Labour Party combined couldn’t answer these questions even if they tried. And we the British public voted this man out! He was absolutely right about Labour,” said another.
“The man knows numbers and hence he should still be running the UK finances,” one person said.
(Also read: ‘Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law’ Rishi Sunak sparks 70-hour-work-week jokes with multiple new jobs)