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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A dad in Texas turned to social media for help after becoming increasingly confused by a third-grade math problem set for his child as homework.
Marty posted a screenshot of the problem to Reddit under the handle u/martymakk asking: "Could someone explain what is incorrect?"
"My child returned his homework to me and the problems that were circled in green indicate that the number in the rectangle is incorrect. I’ve looked at this for about 10 minutes and genuinely want to know if I am missing something?"
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The task presented four different sums. In each instance, pupils were asked to "estimate the value by rounding each number." Marty’s child had attempted to answer each of the four questions but had had the assignment returned with their mistakes circled by the teacher.
Marty was confused at these corrections, which is why he turned to Reddit for help. He told Newsweek: "I simply felt a little embarrassed to ask the teacher to explain to me a third-grade mathematics problem that I 100% felt was correct as written."
According to the 2023 administration of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, U.S. adults are getting worse at math. Figures compiled as part of the assessment show numeracy scores among 16 to 65-year-olds fell 7 points from 2017 to 2023.
Marty is the first to admit math has never been a "strength" of his, but he was surprised to find himself struggling so much with what the answer could be to this third grade problem.“I have a Bachelors in Business Administration from University in Chicago so by no means am I weak in math," he said.
It was only after posting the problem to Reddit that Marty gained an understanding of what had happened: the problem and the teacher’s corrections didn’t make sense.
As one user noted: "It looks like they wanted your child to round down, based on the underlining of the ‘8’ in 785, the ‘5’ in 756, and the fact that every circled number on the left side of the equation is a number that was rounded up. Except, wait, they didn't circle "440" in the top right."
Another said: "They are expecting values to be rounded to 1 significant figure." But a fellow Reddit user countered that claim by noting: "That actually looks right, except again for the top right problem."
That sentiment was echoed elsewhere. "I was thinking maybe the teacher wanted them to round to the hundreds instead, but the top right wasn't circled."
Marty replied to that comment: "That was my initial thought, the top right contradicts the others. I thought maybe it was a one off, but my child said the entire class had gotten the problems incorrect in this section."
Eventually, one Reddit user was able to identify the text book the problem came from and even produced an answer key. Once again, though, there was confusion. While three of the four answers in the answer key rounded up hundreds, the top-right one only rounded up to 10s.
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"The general consensus was that the problem needed further direction, that the answer key is incorrect, or that AI or some other software makes the problems and is not being vetted thoroughly," Marty said.
The fact the answer key included the caveat "estimates may vary" only added to the confusion around the math problem. Ultimately, Marty still doesn’t feel like he has gotten a satisfactory answer.
"At this point in time, even with the answer key and the full question in hand, I don’t think a clear explanation has been provided," he said.
Marty's concern now no longer centers on the math problem itself, though, but rather on the need for more-careful checks when it comes to assignments of this kind.
"I don’t fault the teacher and love the school. Teachers have a very difficult job, underpaid, stressed, and surely have their hands full," he said.
"The school that my child attends teaches at a much-faster pace, and while I do believe that the work is harder, I believe, long term, that all sides will be grateful for courses being a bit more rigorous, as this will better prepare them for the real world."
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