Great story, Gene. I had a math teacher in 8th grade who asked us to each invent a new calendar. Mine was a 364-day year, of 13 months of 28 days each, so that the same date always fell on the same day of the week. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Every 28 years there was a 14th month — of 35 days — to help catch up. The seasons had slid by almost a month. [35 = 28(365-364) + 28/4.] Maybe not the most brilliant idea, but Mrs. Lewis insisted that by not compensating sooner for the 1/4 day per year that was normally compensated for with leap years, my calendar meant we would soon all be waking up in the middle of the night. I knew that whatever its flaws, that wasn't one of them. But I could not convince her despite repeated attempts. (Then they moved me to the 9th grade math class for a month, then to the 10th grade class.) —Dan
On Apr 26, 2016, at 2:15 PM, Eugene Salamin via math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I had a math teacher in Junior High in NYC who would not admit making a mistake. We were discussing a problem in the textbook, and she asserted that the answer in the back of the book was correct. But as we all demonstrated, the answer was wrong. She wouldn't back down. Next class session, she claimed that she had discussed the problem with a Dr. So and So in the Math Dept, and that they agreed that the answer was correct; it was the question that was wrong.
The Junior High was named after some famous American. I think it was Benedict Arnold.