Is there anything that makes you feel more inadequate as a parent than your child’s math homework? Sure, we can do all the things, but it’s the way they want us to do them that, quite frankly, doesn’t make sense. We know we aren’t alone in this one. Every so often, a brave parent takes their mathematical mystery to sites like Reddit for help. If nothing else, they feel a lot better about themselves when they realize other adults are just as perplexed by the question.
A dad who posts on Reddit as @u/beachITguy brought his first grade son’s math homework to the forum for some assistance. Reddit removed the post, but Newsweek reached out, and the original poster provided the question.
The word problem read, “Higher Order Thinking. Can you prove that 4 + 2 = 5 + 1 is true without solving both sides of the equation? Explain.”
The OP told Newsweek, “I was having a hard time getting my brain to think like a child just learning addition and subtraction. How would they describe a problem without solving it?”
Although the OP’s question is no longer online, many Redditor responses remain, and they were just as mixed up.
One wrote, “Question for you: can first graders even read this question? This seems like really complicated phrasing for a 6-year-old who only just learned to decode closed syllables. I’m not saying 6-year-olds can’t do the math, I just don’t know how they’d read or write an answer to this.”
Some offered help, like this person who wrote, “Maybe they expect something like ‘you start with one less, but add one more, so you will end up with the same amount’?”
Another person didn’t like the way the question was written: “I’m afraid this is the sort of lazily-worded question that just really winds me up. I’m sure they are after something very simple but what does ‘without solving both sides of the equation’ even mean?”
Another person joked, “Is no an acceptable answer?” OP replied, “Honestly unsure… But would make sense. I was coming from the angle that you could and trying to rack my brain on how to describe it. But NO seems like a good choice.”
After realizing his confusion wasn’t unfounded, the dad told Newsweek he reached out and got the correct answer. “We did reach out to the teacher and they told us to ignore the wording of the question and just solve the two sides to prove that it is a TRUE statement,” he said.
Can we just go back to old people’s math? It was so much easier.
