Here's a baffling question from my 9-year-old daughter's maths homework. Anyone have any idea what it is asking her to do? (She thinks, not unreasonably, that the answer is 9, but I'm not sure.) ************* How many corners in total? Hexagon 3 Pentagon 2 Heptagon 4
Should the mathematics homework of a 9-year-old include any problem that baffles a Fields medalist? I am tempted to maintain that the answer is no (and that the mystery here is the unintentional byproduct of sloppy problem-posing.) Why is elementary mathematics taught so poorly?