A 10-year-old girl from Marion, Ohio was having a difficult time answering her homework so she decided to ask officers on their Facebook page. The girl was asking the local police about a math problem.
The girl, identified as Lena Draper, sent the message to the police last Saturday saying she is having trouble with her homework and asked if they could help. USA Today reported the officer, Lt. B.J. Gruber, replied a few hours after the message was sent. He's the one managing the Facebook account of the force.
He asked the girl what the math problem was and she said she does not understand the equation "(8+29)x15." The officer later told her to do the numbers inside the parentheses first then multiply it to the number outside of the parentheses.
The messages did not stop there as the girl asked about another equation, which had two sets of numbers inside two parentheses and another number outside one of the two parentheses. The officer replied by saying the girl should take the answers of the equation "from the first parenthesis plus the answer from the second parenthesis and multiply that answer times two," CBS News reported.
Gruber said it was a first to have a child message them about a math homework. The child's mom said her daughter took a lot of pride in what happened and that Draper has gotten overwhelmed with the attention from social media.
The young girl, however, loved that she was in the news The mother also said she always knew the police and the community have a good relationship.
The police department where Gruber works also released a statement saying his advice on the girl’s homework for the second question was incorrect. The thought to help, however, was what counted. The department said they aim to be a full-service department and thanked the mother for acknowledging their efforts to help the girl.
