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.

The original trending hashtag "girl math", which currently boasts over 1.2 billion views on TikTok, has spawned multiple successors such as “mom math”, “dog math”, “boy math”, and now our very own “Singapore math”.

A viral TikTok video posted by content creator Amandine Honvault on Saturday (Oct 21) explores a fresh take on how Singapore residents might apply the trademark illogical mathematics of the trend in their daily lives.

“Singapore math is like if you live in Singapore and you go JB (Johor Bahru) every weekend, the money that you spend there doesn’t count,” she begins.

She gives another example of how many would be reluctant to pay for a plastic bag at the checkout, but that they would actually be “making money” by reusing the plastic bag as a trash bag. 

“If I go eat at Hai Di Lao but I took the public transport to get there, it’s like getting a 50 per cent discount,” she concludes, referring to the popular hotpot restaurant chain. 

Contrary to the name of her TikTok account “new_to_singapore”, Ms Honvault, who is originally from France, is fairly well-versed in local culture, having lived and worked in Singapore for more than four years.

Ms Honvault creates social media content on various platforms, spotlighting local attractions, making guides for others looking to move to Singapore, and even debunking stereotypes about Singaporeans. 

She also has a Singaporean boyfriend. 

Her 24-second TikTok video on “Singapore math” was an instant hit, attracting more than 348,100 views, 165,100 likes, and 1,157 comments as of Wednesday (Oct 25) afternoon.

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."