Arithmetic task for third-grade students in the United States resulted in a mathematical-linguistic dispute among users of the forum Reddit. “Janelle was 15 balls. She lost a few of them. How many balls have Janelle there now?” ask the authors of the textbook.
The most obvious answer was < 15 (less than 15). However, the author of this review pointed to the fact that Janelle lost a few marbles, that is, more than one.
Another response suggested that variant 1 ≤ x < 15, however, the commentator suggested not to go crazy, because this solution is suitable only “for those who went into the fourth class.”
A dispute later shifted to the field of higher algebra, where the solution proposed formula {15 – n | n ∈ ℤ, 1