Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends. In algorithm classes, there are often many right answers, including ones you haven't thought of before. Same goes for most college math.
"In algorithm classes, there are often many right answers" I accept this, but I'm assuming the original algorithm that a creative student produces will pass tests/produce same output as the 'textbook' solution. My understanding of the original article is that a correct final answer was marked wrong. "Same goes for most college math." Absolutely. My favourite from 16+ maths (GCSE in UK) is the area of a trapezium. Mos…
The third option would be to chop off both "wings" and consider it as a square plus two triangles. That is often my instinct when I forget to do it with the mean length of the parallels.