The Math Is Way Off in This Viral Powerball Meme Claiming Splitting Jackpot Could Solve Poverty
— -- A meme claiming that splitting the Powerball jackpot could solve poverty in the U.S. has been shared nearly a million times on Facebook.
However, there's one slight problem with the meme: its math.
According to the meme, the $1.3 billion jackpot divided by the U.S. population of roughly 300 million people would provide everyone with $4.33 million.
But actually, everyone would get only about $4.33.
Now, new memes making fun of the original meme's wrong math are emerging -- including one shared by Livesosa, the Arkansas-based musician whose post of the meme exploded on Facebook on Monday.
After getting hundreds of comments about the terrible math, Livesosa commented on his post, saying, "Clearly the lady that created this post picture was off.. But the point she was trying to make .. Spot on my people. Shed a tear like normal lol have a laugh for once ! Duhhhh the math doesn't equal out..you guys want a correction award?"
Livesosa said on Twitter today that the meme's original creator was actually an Instagram user with the handle @esteyban.
@esteyban also made fun of himself on Instagram, captioning the following photo, "Trying to solve poverty.... While getting killed on social media. At least my $4.33 is a start... With everybody's 2 cents I can buy a $5 pizza special and give it out."