Excellent You can't add pigs and goats! Pig Plus Goat by T.E. Loper 100 Word Flash Fiction contest entry

High school freshmen know it all—except algebra. Knobby was an old troll with a knot on his head. We made horrible fun of him. The first day, he walked in, wrote "A+B=?", then pointed at the question mark. We said "C." "You can't add pigs and goats!" We blinked. It took two classes for everyone to get it. I didn't appreciate what a great teacher he was. He ignored our knobby taunts; we learned algebra, never knowing the man. He was a WWII vet. The knot was shrapnel. The Purple Heart was draped on his photo by the coffin.   Author Notes High school kids can be monsters. A+B=A+B. You can't add pigs and goats. Let A equal 1 Pig and B equal 1 Goat; then A+B = 1 Pig and 1 Goat. A(1 Pig) + A(1 Pig) = 2A(2 Pigs). Welcome to algebra. In the photo, note that the goat has "C" on its head: definitely NOT equal to a pig and a goat! (I counted the algebraic formula and WWII as one "word" each.)

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