The Answer on His Neighbor's Page
Chapter 1The First Row
Moishe and Shimon sat beside each other during a practice lesson.
Rebbi allowed the boys to discuss how they solved the practice problems. Each boy still had to read and answer his own page.
Their worksheets had the same border and a little boat at the top.
Moishe finished the first row. His answer was eighteen.
Shimon's was twenty-one.
Moishe glanced sideways.
Shimon usually worked quickly. Perhaps his own answer was wrong.
Chapter 2The Changed Number
Moishe erased eighteen and wrote twenty-one.
Then he reread the numbers in his problem: eleven plus seven.
He counted again. They still added to eighteen.
"How did you get twenty-one?" he asked Shimon.
"Twelve plus nine," Shimon said.
Moishe pointed at his page.
"Those aren't my numbers."
Shimon brought his worksheet closer. Its first problem really did say twelve plus nine.
The boys looked from one little boat to the other. The pictures matched. The problems did not.
Chapter 3At the Top Corner
They asked Rebbi whether one worksheet had been printed incorrectly.
Rebbi showed them the small letters in the top corners.
One page was marked A. The other was marked B.
"Two practice sets," he said. "You may discuss the method, but your answers must fit the numbers on your own sheet."
Moishe looked at the answer he had changed.
"I copied his result before checking which question he answered."
Rebbi asked him to return to the actual problem and show his addition.
Chapter 4Eleven and Seven
Moishe wrote eleven plus seven beneath the first row.
He added the ones, then checked the total. Eighteen fit.
Shimon showed how he had added twelve and nine on his own page. Twenty-one fitted that problem.
Neither answer could simply replace the other.
The boys turned their papers so each could see his own question clearly.
Moishe rewrote eighteen in the answer space. The eraser mark remained, but the calculation underneath explained it.
Chapter 5The Next Row
The second row on each page used subtraction.
Shimon explained that he checked his subtraction by adding the answer back.
Moishe tried that check with his own numbers.
The result matched the larger number in his problem.
He showed Shimon the check, not merely the answer.
Rebbi came past and read both boys' work. The boat pictures were still alike, but the written steps showed which practice set each boy was solving.
Chapter 6Beside the Boat
Moishe put his pencil down when the allowed practice time ended.
He had borrowed a useful way to check subtraction. He had not needed to borrow Shimon's totals.
Shimon pointed to the little A beside Moishe's boat.
"I'm going to look for that corner first next time."
"Me too," Moishe said.
He stacked his own worksheet on top of his notebook. Eighteen stayed in the first row, because eleven and seven were the numbers he had actually been asked to add.
