The internet engaged in a furious debate over a matter so important, the world had to reassess the way it sliced and served pizza.
This math problem was posted to Reddit and it seemed pretty straightforward. We’ve all had to deal with math problems in school. So let’s see what you make of it.
“Marty ate 4/6 of his pizza and Luis ate 5/6 of his pizza. Marty ate more pizza than Luis. How is that possible?”
Seems simple enough.
On Reddit, it was captioned, “The American education system”, and you’re about to find yourself confused.
The student answered that “Marty’s pizza is bigger than Luis’ pizza.” – And really, the kid isn’t exactly wrong about this. Pizza can be served in a variety of shapes and sizes. And kids do know pizza.
And yet the student’s teacher, when she returned the paper, wrote, “That is not possible because 5/6 is greater than 4/6 so Luis ate more.”
That’s when the arguments online ensued.
Some swear that the question is terribly worded, while some are saying that the teacher attempted to crush the student’s “think outside the box” mentality. Outside the box of pizza.
Then you have the comments on YouTube,
ren posted,
“its not even about “outside the box” its still maths, the teachers just wrong. if x is the size of marty’s pizza and y is the size of luis’ pizza: (4/6)x > (5/6)y it doesnt take a genius to figure out x is bigger than y”
While Kayla Smith said,
“The kid is completely right. If the teacher didn’t want that answer, then they should’ve worded the question differently. I would’ve answered the exact same thing.”
Now we all know kids have a different way of seeing situations.
If the teacher had ended the problem with “Assuming both pizzas are the same size, is this possible?” – We would have gotten a much simpler answer minus the online debate.
Or at least give the kid a good mark for thinking.
When presented with this problem, anyone would assume it’s the same pizza chain serving the boys or that the same orders were sliced into different portions for Marty and Luis.
5/6 is greater than 4/6, sure, but was one a regular sized pizza and the other a family sized one?
Lindsay 1984 gave a wonderfully worded opinion on the matter,
“The use of the term “How is this possible?” made the first sentence a given. Thus the student is led to believe the statement is true and must figure out how. Following this process, If Marty ate more pizza, then one possibility is that Marty ate 4/6 of a large sized pizza and Luis 5/6 of a small sized pizza.”
There it is.
Amazing how people get worked up over pizza sizes too. The next time pizza is ordered, make sure they’re the same size and sliced evenly. No one wants to argue when they could be enjoying a steamy bite.
Are you with Marty or Luis? Was the teacher right or did the student have a point? Watch the video below!
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