SINGAPORE — Forget “girl math” and “mom math”. The newest iteration in the series of viral TikTok trends is “Singapore math”, giving the fad a local flair.
Many TikTok users, who appeared to be from Singapore, rushed to the comment section to share their own examples of “Singapore math”.
A top comment wrote: “Singapore math is like when you buy something and they give you a free gift. You didn’t waste any money, you got extra for FREE.”
“If I take extra ketchup and chilli sauce, sugar (at) McDonald’s, I get my value back,” posited another.
Others seconded the examples in the video, citing their extravagant “savings” during trips to Johor Bahru and “free” Hai Di Lao meals from the endless condiments and side dishes.
The video was also shared on the Singapore Reddit page on Monday, garnering 843 upvotes and 151 comments by Wednesday. Users on Reddit, however, had slightly gloomier takes.
One commented on the seemingly over-flexible prices of economical rice at coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts, writing: “Singapore math is two meat, one vegetable economy rice (for) S$3.50, (but) three meat, one vegetable is S$8.50.”
Another spun a classic trope, writing: “The true Singapore math is that our time has no value. Queue (for) two hours to buy a discounted burger. So (the) two hours of our life is worth S$5.”
Despite the obvious lack of logic in each scenario, it appears that the absurd concept is oddly relatable among audiences.
In another TikTok video posted by user “kdarshen” last month during the height of the “girl math” trend, they playfully scoffed at the ever-rising Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for cars in Singapore.
“Does it mean I have to sell two of my kidneys just to own a car?” they ask.
“Not unless you do girls maths.”
They then proceed to utilise “girl maths” to justify COE prices in Singapore by rounding down numbers and applying senseless divisions, to ultimately arrive at a grand total of two cents per minute over 10 years.
“So basically, owning a car in Singapore is free now,” they deduced.
Many comments in the video reminded the user that they had left out the price of the car, which conveniently played into the overall concept of “girl math”.
One user quipped: “Really girl math cause (they) forgot about the price of the car. S$140,000 is just the paper cost.”
Another, however, actually seemed to have benefitted from the video, writing: “Still very shocked by the S$140,000 COE. After you divided (it) into seconds, you did make me feel better!”
Although the true measure of “Singapore math” remains up for debate, one Redditor proposed a consensus: “Singapore math is converting everything to plates of chicken rice.”
“Should I buy another dark grey Uniqlo Airism tee? That’s four plates of chicken rice, guess I’ll wait till next week and buy it for 3.9 plates,” they added.
Another user agreed with the idea, writing: “YES! That’s what my partner does, except in his mind, chicken rice is still S$2.”
Responding to a comment on how inflation had caused the price of chicken rice to rise, the original Redditor came to a harsh realisation: “When I calculated the first time (while) typing that, I counted six plates. Then I remembered that chicken rice no longer (costs) S$3.”
“Used to be able to eat 1,100 plates a month before CPF (Central Provident Fund contribution), but guess I’m down to 660 now.”