Originally Posted by Iucounu
I just found out from my wife that the homework sheet came home with the teacher's red mark and comments that it was indeed possible, adding the two numbers together for a "solution" based on the assumption that the house, library, and store were all in a straight line, as of course they always are in the real world, or at least in Lineland, and additionally assuming that the library was in the middle.


Two vectors without direction.

Derive the magnitude of the third vector if the sum of the vectors is zero.

Even in a One-D world, there are two possibilities.

In a two-D world, the solution is an infinite set.

Quote
This teacher told us at the last TAT meeting that in her opinion, DS was having trouble with word problems, which shocked us. Now I know what she must have meant. sick She also mentioned that he's argued with her on many occasions about being right. I'm proud of him for being strong enough to stick up for himself, and proud/heartsick that he never mentioned this sort of thing to us. With his brand of perfectionism, every unjustified red mark must be like a slap in the face.

I'd fire the teacher for making assumptions and retain your son for asking questions. Good for him.