[Answer + Explanation] How many squares do you see in this puzzle?

Hint: there are more than meets the eyes!

Sometimes the tasks that seem the easiest turn out to be the hardest. Even though that’s just a fact of life, it does make for some fun brain teasers. Take this puzzle that’s been going around WhatsApp. It asks you to do something that seems so easy that it’s funny: count the squares. It might look a lot easier than these math and logic puzzles, but it will definitely make you think!

You have to figure out how many squares are in this grid to solve the puzzle. If you don’t remember much about geometry from grade school, a square is a shape with four sides that are all the same length. So a shape with four sides of different sizes doesn’t count.

At first, it seems pretty easy, but don’t forget that you have to consider squares that overlap, squares inside squares, big squares, and small squares. It’s not as easy as you might think. If you like to find hidden words, try these rebus puzzles and see how you do.

Are you ready for the answer?

See the list below to see how they are all marked, or try again. Don’t forget that the big square is made up of 16 medium-sized squares, but you can also make squares with four or nine medium-sized squares.

Step 1 of 6:

Step 2 of 6:

Step 3 of 6:

Step 4 of 6:

Step 5 of 6:

Step 6 of 6:

All together, there are 40 squares that are easy to miss. Not that many, huh?