Cuts vs pieces Memes

The teacher marked "15" as wrong, but they're actually the hero we need! When you cut a board into 2 pieces, you make 1 cut . For 3 pieces? That's 2 cuts . The question is asking about cuts, not pieces! The student brilliantly recognized the pattern (10 min = 1 cut, so 20 min = 2 cuts, thus 15 min = 1.5 cuts... which makes zero sense unless Marie has a quantum saw). Meanwhile, the teacher's answer of "20 minutes" assumes a linear relationship between pieces and time, which is mathematically unsound. This is why we can't have nice things in education.

The eternal battle between linear and non-linear thinking! The teacher expects the answer to be 20 minutes (assuming 10 min per cut), but our green monster student realizes it's actually 15 minutes. Why? Because Marie needs 2 cuts to make 3 pieces, not 3 cuts! It's a classic rate problem that trips up even seasoned problem-solvers. The key insight: count the cuts, not the pieces. For n pieces, you need (n-1) cuts. The student's logic is flawless - if 10 minutes = 1 cut (creating 2 pieces), then 2 cuts (creating 3 pieces) would take 20 minutes. But wait! The original problem stated 10 minutes for the WHOLE JOB of creating 2 pieces, not per cut! This is why engineers triple-check their assumptions before building bridges. One wrong assumption and suddenly your Mars orbiter is playing hide-and-seek with the Martian surface!