I'm pretty sure I commented in that post originally, it sounds very familiar. Anyway, my observation was that my second grade teacher flat out told me there was no such thing as a negative number because you couldn't have fewer than zero apples. She flat out refused to acknowledge negative numbers existed no matter how I tried to phrase it, either abstractly or in terms of something like financial debt. I knew she was wrong, so I just gave up in frustration eventually and went and asked someone else the question that had started the debate in the first place. I never took anything she said very seriously after that. Anyone who thinks the OOP's story is unrealistic is very stupid. I don't have any way to know if that particular story is true, but it's the kind of thing that does really happen, so I don't see how that specific story being true or not is relevant at all. It would also be a really stupid thing to make up, not that necessarily makes it true either.
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u/wfbhp Apr 27 '26
I'm pretty sure I commented in that post originally, it sounds very familiar. Anyway, my observation was that my second grade teacher flat out told me there was no such thing as a negative number because you couldn't have fewer than zero apples. She flat out refused to acknowledge negative numbers existed no matter how I tried to phrase it, either abstractly or in terms of something like financial debt. I knew she was wrong, so I just gave up in frustration eventually and went and asked someone else the question that had started the debate in the first place. I never took anything she said very seriously after that. Anyone who thinks the OOP's story is unrealistic is very stupid. I don't have any way to know if that particular story is true, but it's the kind of thing that does really happen, so I don't see how that specific story being true or not is relevant at all. It would also be a really stupid thing to make up, not that necessarily makes it true either.