I Just… Mathed
(I am tutoring a flippant seventh grader, who has missed a fraction problem on a test.)
Me: “What did you have?”
Seventh Grader: “1/5.”
Me: “Right… If we multiply this out, 1 times 3 is 3, and 2 times 10 is 20, so our answer is 3/20.”
Seventh Grader: “Yeah, and I simplified it.”
Me: “Oh, really? What did you simplify it by?”
Seventh Grader: “…I dunno. I just did it.”
Me: “…Yeah, that’s why you double-check if you have time left over.”
(He spent five minutes on seven problems, and used his phone the other ten minutes.)
Seventh Grader: “…No, it was like, I was thinking about taking 3 out of 20, and that’s, like… kindergarten math. I didn’t need to think about it. I just did it somehow.”
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?