How many triangles can you see? Only 1% of population can get this ‘simple’ optical illusion from TikTok right

It’s obvious that this image shows a triangle. You may even realise that it shows multiple triangles. But, are you in the 1% of the population that can correctly identify just how many triangles there are? This is everything you need to know about an optical illusion from Tik Tok which looks really simple, but actually isn’t.

How many triangles are in the image?

Every time you look at this image you are likely to see more and more triangles.

The large, primary triangle is immediately apparent, as are some smaller triangles within it, but there are some other shapes within the main triangle which make all triangles hard to count.

We’re not going to reveal the answer just yet so you have more time to consider - and check - your answer, but we will reveal it later on in this article.

Where has the image come from?

While the original source of the image is not clear, TikTok personality Hectic Nick shared the illusion online and it quickly went viral.

In fact, it racked up 1.6million views and over 135k comments - and that number is still growing.

Wearing his signature sunglasses, the mysterious content creator showed the triangle image and told viewers to concentrate.

He said: “Only one percent of people can get this right. How many triangles are in this image?"

He then fell silent and let viewers have a few moments to study the image.

He then added: "It sounds simple, but it’s not easy. "Let me know how many you think there are.”

Hectic Nick is known on the social media platform Tik Tok for confusing his many viewers on a daily basis with a selection of illusions, brain teasers and fun facts.

He describes his channel as “videos that make you think”, but does not reveal any personal details relating to who he is or where he finds the material he posts.

His videos are extremely popular though and he has 3.9million followers.

What do Tik Tok users think the answer is?

TikTok users took to the comments section of Hectic Nick’s video to share their answers.

We’ll give you a hint - none of these answers are correct.

"Look at the top shapes. It’s a triangle and it’s three,” one viewer said.

Another said: "It’s just one. The others are squares or incomplete triangles.”

The most popular guess was four, while many viewers also said they counted seven or 15 triangles in the illusion.

What’s the answer?

To find the answer, you’ll need to remember that you can compose triangles out of the smaller shapes and they don’t all need to be equilateral triangles, either.

Some will have narrow bases and longer sides.

So, the correct total number of triangles contained in the image is eighteen.

If you know the answer but you’re still struggling to count them all, treat the lines in the image as a grid and construct triangles of varying sizes row by row and column by column. This should help you see all 18 triangles.