Newburyport High School in Massachusetts have apologized for an algebra problem high school students were given this homework problem — “Flight 175, one of the 9/11 planes, was traveling at 586 miles per hour when it hit the World Trade Center. It had traveled a distance of 440 miles before impact. How many minutes was the plane in the air? (Remember: to convert from hours to minutes multiply by 60).”
Making matters worse was the fact that an alumnus of the school, Tom Pecorelli, was killed in the terrorist attacks aboard Flight 11.
Pecorelli’s sister, Angela Wadleigh, said to Boston 25 News, “It’s very disrespectful, that’s one of the first things that comes to mind, it’s really disrespectful. Out of thousands of examples you could use in math, this is not one you could use.”
Authorities representing the school said that no disrespect was intended.
