Child's maths homework divides parent's after teacher's ruling on answer

A child's maths homework has sparked a divisive debate online after a teacher marked it wrong.

In the viral post on X/Twitter, one Irish dad shared a photo of the question which simply asked how many corners a semi-circle had. The child answered that there were two, on the bottom left and right corners – but the teacher said this was incorrect and suggested there were none.

Dad Mark wrote: "Hmm. Controversial ruling from the múinteoir here on 'how many corners does a semi-circle have'".

His tweet has since been viewed over 800,000 times and was inundated with responses, with one person writing: "I reckon there’ll be some argue this, but your child seems to be right. If the definition of a corner is where two lines meets, but doesn’t specifically state it has to be straight lines, then a semi-circle has 2 corners. But, if the definition being used is two straight lines, then it’s 0. "

Another added: "Mmmm… from my memory these are not corners, as a corner requires that two lines meeting, to create an angle of some sort…. It’s a long time since I practiced theorems. They sure look like corners!"

Meanwhile, a third joked: "I find it mildly hilarious we have grown adults, some with prestigious degrees in education, deliberating over what seems like 2nd class homework."

It comes after another eight-year-old's homework with a very vague question stumped the internet.

Shared to Reddit, the question asked: "Janell had 15 marbles. She lost some of them. How many does Janell have now?"

Understandably, the child and many full-grown adults were left confused. "The correct answer is 'some,'" one person humoured.

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