Thai-based restaurant in the US offers free Wi-Fi password in mathematical equation; social media users stumped

Asking for Wi-Fi passwords has become common at many restaurants and cafes. In fact, people sometimes go to cafes just to use free Wi-Fi. One restaurant in the United States has come up with a unique way to share the password. The Yaya’s Thai restaurant in San Antonio, Texas has posted their free Wi-Fi password to the wall. Anyone can use the password. The catch? The image posted to the wall is actually of a mathematical equation, which people have to solve in order to get the password.

This is the Wifi password at a local Thai restaurant. I’m determined to join their network… https://t.co/F8t30HY6pt pic.twitter.com/jqHT6jRodY

— OddStuffMagazine (@OddStuffMag) October 27, 2016

The purpose behind choosing such a complex password was unclear, but it soon became the highlight of the eatery. The equation stumped many people, who were aghast at having to solve a complex equation just to get free Internet. Some users actually started solving the problem. That itself led to issues, some users said the equation itself was incorrect, while others ended up with a two-digit answer. Many speculated that the answer was “binomial CDF’ but with a typo in the password. To solve the whole thing, one had to find the error. The equation even led to a lot of jokes on social media, with some users theorising that the actual answer was that the restaurant did not have Wi-Fi at all. Some also wrote the answer to the equation was the word password itself. The post, which is originally from 2016, is not the only time eateries have posed riddles and problems to their customers. A cafe in Beijing, China made customers solve mathematical problems to figure out the cost of each dish. A Chinese university was also in the news for asking students to solve a calculus equation for gaining access to the Wi-Fi password. The university claimed the practice was aimed at making the new students work hard and to promote the charm of higher mathematics among the student body.