“Nope, that’s not it” Daughter’s solution to “pick the larger number” math problem is outside the box

There's more than one way to solve a math problem.

If Japanese Twitter user Tapi (@chip_akt) needed a reminder of that, she got one when her young daughter, a first-grader in elementary school, showed her her schoolwork.

When Tapi took a look at her daughter's math assignment, she saw the simple task of "circle the large of the two numbers" followed by a set of ten problems, with a pair of numbers to choose from.

Her daughter may have also thought it was simple, as she interpreted the problem quite differently than the teacher intended:

Source: @chip_akt

"I feel soothed by my carefree daughter."

てきとうな次女に癒された pic.twitter.com/OtsYUpM8Yy
— たぴ (@chip_akt) May 15, 2022

Rather than answer each question individually, Tapi's daughter circled the larger of the two numbers for each question when comparing the left and right columns. While that may not have been what her teacher had in mind, we can't say she's totally wrong--at least the way she sees it.

Many adults on Twitter were impressed by her solution to the problem, impressed by her way of thinking and hoping her work wasn't marked as incorrect:

"Maybe she has the great ability to see the bigger picture! I hope this talent will be nurtured and not buried!"

"There's more than one way to look at a problem."

"When I first looked at the problem I had no idea what the mistake was."

By - grape Japan editorial staff.