In matters of math, details matter

When Reb Beatty, who teaches financial accounting at a community college in Maryland, told his students he would allow them to use one 3×5 card for the first test of the semester, he wasn’t as precise as he should have been. Math is all about precision.

Student Elijah Bowen brought in a 3 x 5 foot poster board with notes and calculations.

Beatty said he looked through the syllabus he wrote and nowhere did he indicate inches in instructions.

“Appreciating the fact that (a) he had the intelligence to realize this shortcoming and (b) the audacity to actually put this together and bring it in, there was no reason to not allow him to use it,” he said.

The student reportedly “did well” on the test although privacy laws prevented Beatty from saying how well.