A former math teacher taught a stranger on the subway about fractions

We get it — math is hard. Especially when you don’t use it all that much on a daily basis. It’s so easy to forget what you were taught in school, and this can become a real issue for parents who are trying to help their children with homework.

This was the case for Corey Simmons, a single parent to third grader Corey Jr. Simmons was trying to re-learn fractions so he could help his son re-take a quiz he had failed. While sitting on the subway, Simmons asked a complete stranger if he would be able to help him learn about fractions. The complete stranger turned out to be a former math teacher, so he told the father he could help.

A fellow subway rider, Denise Wilson, caught the sweet moment on camera and posted it to Facebook, explaining the story:

“He was just telling the guy, ‘I’m in my 40s and all of this is new to me, so I’ve got to re-learn this to teach my son because he failed a math test,’” Wilson told CBS2.

For the remainder of the 20-minute subway ride, the man on the left helped Simmons, on the right, learn about lowest common denominators and improper fractions. Wilson couldn’t get over how sweet this moment shared between strangers was.

“I was like, wow, to be a dad and help his child and put his pride aside and learn from a complete stranger on the train, it was so cool,” she told The Washington Post.

Simmons told The Washington Post that he was willing to do whatever he needed to help his son do better on the fractions quiz the next time around.

“You have to ask questions to get information. I’m not shy or ashamed to ask,” he told The Washington Post. “I was letting him know ‘I need help, you know, your assistance would be great here on the train.’”

Unfortunately, Simmons didn’t catch the name of  man who tutored him but, clearly, he’s very grateful for all of his help. And as for Simmons’ son — the dad thinks that once the next quiz on fractions comes up, “He’s going to knock it out of the park.”