Police Officer's Homework Help Misses the Mark

Lena Draper (10), from Marion, Ohio, was struggling with her math homework last week. Out of options, she decided to turn to an unexpected source: the local police department's Facebook page.

At first, this approach seemed promising. She posted: "I'm having trouble with my math homework, can you help me?" Almost immediately, Officer Grober, who manages the department's Facebook page, responded. "Okay, what's the problem?" he asked.

Lena wrote down the problem that had her stumped: (8+29)x15

"You need to solve the operation inside the parentheses first, and then multiply. So the problem is actually 37 times 15," explained the officer.

Encouraged, Lena continued with another: "I also have this problem: 90+27) + (29+15) x 2. What should I solve first?"

Officer Grober replied: "First solve both sets of parentheses, add the results together, and then multiply by two."

Officer Grober, who tried to help Lena with her homework

While he undoubtedly meant well, this time he gave Lena the wrong answer. She should have first solved the second set of parentheses, multiplied it by two, and then added the result to the first set's total.

Nevertheless, Lena's mom was so impressed with the local police department's willingness to help that she shared the exchange between her daughter and the officer on her own Facebook page. When a local news station reached out to Officer Grober for comment, he said he hoped he'd receive a "very good" for his effort, at least. "They say it's the thought that counts – I hope so, because I sure can't count! It was really nice of the mom to thank me for helping with the homework, even though I gave the wrong answer."