Graham, L., Springer, D. et al.
While studying for his exams, high school sophomore Terry Porter was able to crack a math problem that has been on the books for 150 years because his school hasn’t purchased a textbook in several decades.
The math problem, from the Chapter 8 review of Math Volume II (published 1857), involved deducing the time from a sundial. Porter and his teachers were able to confirm the solution when they checked the back of the textbook for the answer.
“We’re very proud of Terry,” said Darryl Ford, the school’s principal. “Of course, the textbook is so outdated that his SAT test scores won’t even get him into a safety school. But by 1857 standards? He’s an absolute savant.”
Craig hopes Porter can get into one of the Ivy league schools as a janitor and try to clean a room where modern math is left on the board.
In addition to math, Porter has shown great proficiency in English and History, although the school’s textbooks are 69 and 82 years old respectively, meaning Porter is entirely ignorant of literary postmodernism and the second world war.
Porter hopes that his math prowess will make everyone forget about last year’s science fair project, in which he correctly theorized the existence of a polio vaccine, but later learned had already been discovered earlier this century.
