The Internet is losing its mind about this confusing pizza math problem

[haele]

44. Sigh. We're talking about the same process here, just from different perspectives.

On Edit: reading further down the thread, I think you are more concerned about why we are trying to solve the problem or clean up the word problem presented than to just come out and say "the teacher was wrong". I can dig it.

So go ahead and ignore everything I've written below, because I just got my BS in Business and am still in the "present the proof of your argument" mode.

Your argument to me is that the problem is about recognizing and applying the differences between portion size to come to a conclusion. Deconstructing this requires a "solve for X", where in this case, the variable to the value that each number of portions the subjects have is determined by the volume of the whole pizza each subject has.
The constants are that 1) you have two participants, Marty and Luis, who have eaten a specified percentage of their respective pizzas, and 2) each pizza has six slices.
Therefore, Ockham's Razor would lead us to the realization that the variable required to solve for the situation presented is that the pizzas were of different size. The person solving the question must come to that conclusion, either by recognizing that this is where the most correct answer is to be found (the argument you are making with me), or by actually proving how Marty could have consumed more pizza than Luis by solving for X - the variable that affect the constants.
Is this a Algebra class or an Economics class?
I'm assuming Algebra because of the age of the student indicated in the story, but it could very well be a Marketing class, where the student is learning decision making or resource allocation strategies.

Now, the teacher's reaction to the answer was incorrect for either type of class, and the question was poorly written to encourage either recognition of variables or for presenting a proof to the situation.

Haele