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Comment by Brian_K_White | Hacker News Reader

The original problem, and the racing one, are both logistics problems, and everything in the world runs on logistics, and people have to be good at it.

If you don't like it or aren't good at doing it even while not liking it, the problem is not the problem.

I have no sympathy for this complaint.

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I don't think you are arguing against the parents position, but for it, while your answers' odd contrarian positioning also exhibits how critical context and caring are to answering questions. Good job, you.

I think you've missed my point. There's no interesting logistics problem in "when do the trains meet?" Yes, the underlying math is useful for all sorts of things, but the word problem doesn't offer any motivation for knowing the answer. It's purely asking as an impartial observer.

Back when I took calculus in high school, my teacher explained how traffic speed cameras used mean value theorem to prove a car exceed the speed limit.

Here, there's an actual problem, actual actors and observers, and a motivation.

It answers the question why is this useful to know, or to be able to answer.

> There's no interesting logistics problem in "when do the trains meet?"

This is trivially resolved with "and the first train is carrying an urgent package for a passenger on the second train. When will the trains meet to deliver the package?".

But on the exam form, that's just extra irrelevant noise.

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