This time, there was no keypad. But there was a message on the screen: TOUCH THE ONE PROBLEM THAT HAS THEINCORRECT ANSWER. YOU HAVE FIVEMINUTES TO FIND IT. A counter popped up under the message. “You’re kidding!” Benedict screamed. He spun around, as if trying to find the best place to start or maybe to drill his way out of the room. “Calm down. It won’t give us a test we can’t pass.” I noticed there wasn’t any pencil or paper. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do most of the problems in my head. I walked to the back wall and looked at the problems in front of me. The first four were right at eye level: 478 × 18 = 8,604 27 × 135 = 3,645 9 × 18726 = 168,534 58 × 72 = 4,176 “Think,” I said to Benedict. “There’s no way we can check them all out by doing the math. Not in …” I glanced at the timer, “four minutes and forty seconds. So, how else can we check them?” “I know I’ve said this before,” Benedict said, “but WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?”
