Dad seeks internet's help to solve first-grader's math problem — turns out, he's not alone
Maths is a dreaded territory for many students, and we have all had our grapples with it. But as it comes, school work is getting increasingly harder, even for first-graders and their parents. A father was left clueless after he glanced at his child’s math homework and sought the internet’s help. In a now-unavailable Reddit post (u/beachITguy), the father teased the complexity of the sum with a snap. “How can you describe this?” he captioned the post. Receiving over 11,000 upvotes, the post went viral and caught the notice of a few problem-solvers and elementary school teachers.
The question read, “Higher Order Thinking. Can you prove that 4 + 2 = 5 + 1 is true without solving both sides of the equation? Explain." The father, who wishes to remain anonymous, talked to Newsweek about his kid’s math homework and how it sparked a debate on the internet. "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?" he said. Like him, most people were baffled by the difficulty level of a math problem for a first-grader. One person (u/FightWithTools926) 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.”
Similarly, others joined in. “Is 'No' an acceptable answer?” quipped another (u/Lucky_Net_3799). A third Reddit user (u/barihonk) chimed in, “What the actual? This is phrased like a university maths question. Source: took maths papers at university.” Someone else (u/NitrosGone803) mocked, “I'm pretty sure at this point the Dept. of Education is trying to get defunded.” Another user (u/GathGreine) expressed, “I’m honestly shocked that this is first grade.” Then came the answers from people claiming to have figured out the solution.
A fellow Reddit user (u/SportEfficient8553) who commented on the post explained the sum in detail. As a first-grade teacher of the exact curriculum, in addition to having a bachelor's in Math, the person said the sum was appropriate for a first-grade student. “This is. Higher Order Thinking problem, meaning it is trying to get the kids to think beyond the simple memorization or even an algorithm. This is breaking knowledge into true number theory, which is absolutely appropriate for first grade and should be the focus of math at that age,” the comment stated. Providing the solution, the teacher broke down the LHS of the sum into three parts. It was solved as follows:
4+2=5+1
4+1+1=5+1
(4+1)+1=5+1
5+1=5+1
"And yes, this is exactly how I taught this same kind of problem to my students, and yes, they understood it,” the elaborate note concluded. Supporting the formula and the insights, another internet user (u/redgreenorangeyellow) noted how the education system is changing and introducing new ways to encourage mathematical thinking in young children. “I'm studying to be an elementary school teacher and I've had to take two full semesters of how to explain basic arithmetic to little kids and why the standard algorithms work,” they shared. According to a 2022 report by Pew Research Center, the U.S. was found to be below average in math but above average in science compared to other member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).