Nick Baxter sent this a week ago, and I failed to notice he sent it to the old address, math-fun@cs.arizona.edu. I switched the list to math-fun@mailman.xmission.com last year because of excessive spam (and one virus). I disconnected automatic forwarding months ago, but I try to notice real messages and forward them manually. This one got by me. Sorry, Nick. I think the problem below was on the Math SAT, about a decade ago, but I'm sure someone remembers more specific information. It was written up in newspapers, and maybe Science News. Rich rcs@cs.arizona.edu ------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 11:05:00 -0700 From: Nick Baxter <nickb@baxterweb.com> To: math-fun <math-fun@CS.Arizona.EDU> Subject: looking for reference to a problem Can someone please fill in the details of a story I heard about a high school student who correctly protested the solution to the following problem that appear on a standardized test some years ago. Problem: Given an equilateral pyramid (square base), glue two regular tetrahedrons (same edge length) to two non-adjacent triangular faces. How many faces does the resulting polyhedron have? I'm looking for the name (and any other information) of the student, the year, the test, the given (incorrect) answer, and the original wording of the problem, if possible. Any references to published accounts of the incident are also appreciated. Thanks, Nick