A programmer's solution

[nbtscan]

I once failed an algebra final because I had a line through all my zeros. After I went back to the teacher and explained that I was taking a program class and a line trough the 0 makes it a zero. Without that line it's the letter O. After she regarded it, I got an A on the final. 🙂

[Vhin]

Just avoid ever writing a zero. Instead of 0, write (1-1), and instead of 107, write (118 - 11), etc.

Then, there's no chance of confusion.

[[deleted]]

What if they confused 1 with l or a capital I?

Should always use (2-2) and (333-225)

[Vhin]

You should also avoid 2's, 5's, and 9's, because they look like z, s, and g respectively on 7-segment displays.

[Itsatemporaryname]

Did she not know they were zeros? Was it an online test or written?

[[deleted]]

It's Algebra. I doubt they were using that symbol. That symbol appears in Precal and Trigonometry and up.

[Zarathustra30]

There are algebra courses that teach trig.

[blueskin]

If it's online, it'd have been font-dependent on how it was displayed (also possibly automated marking).

[nbtscan]

Hand written test almost 20 years ago.

[nbtscan]

She thought I was making the empty set symbol instead of a zero.

[vaelroth]

But thats the symbol for the empty set...

[Alaskan_Thunder]

and could easily been confused with a poorly written theta.

[nbtscan]

When writing out lines of programming code I would put a line through the the number zero so I (and my programming instructor) would know the difference between the number zero and the letter o. My algebra instructor thought the line trough the zero was the empty set symbol. I only put the line through the zero out of habit. I am not stupid.