ARROGANT PROFESSOR HUMBLES OLD JANITOR IN FRONT OF CLASS FOR REPLACING AN “UNSOLVABLE MATH PROBLEM” ON THE WALL, BUT THE ENTIRE FACULTY IS STUNNED WHEN THEY REALIZE THAT THE “DIRT” THE JANITOR MADE IS THE CORRECT ANSWER TO A FORMULA THAT HAS BEEN UNSOLVED FOR 50 YEARS

Professor Arthur Salazar is well-known throughout Imperial University. He is the Head of the Mathematics Department. He is intelligent, but extremely arrogant, and he looks down on people whose IQ is not on his level.

In his Advanced Calculus class, there is a blackboard on the wall that no one is allowed to touch. Written on it is “The Vancier Conjecture”—a math problem that mathematicians around the world have been trying to solve for fifty years, but they have all failed.

“Don’t erase that,” Prof. Salazar always reminds him. “That’s where you can measure who the true genius is. But I doubt that any of you can answer that.”

One Monday morning, Prof. Salazar arrived early. He woke up happy, but his vision went dark as he entered the Lecture Hall.

He caught up with Tatay Lino, the 60-year-old janitor of the university. He was standing in front of the sacred blackboard, holding chalk, and the board was full of writing.

“HEY!” Prof. Salazar shouted, echoing throughout the hallway.

Tatay Lino was surprised and dropped the chalk. Prof. Salazar quickly approached and pushed the old man away from the blackboard. The students also arrived, shocked by the shouting.

“What did you do, Lino?!” the Professor shouted. “I told you not to touch this board! It’s filthy! It’s all graffiti! You’re trashing my board!”

“Sir, I’m sorry…” said Tatay Lino, wearing his faded uniform, bowing. “I just noticed something—”

“I don’t care what you noticed!” Salazar interrupted. “You’re just a janitor! Your job is to clean the toilets and sweep the floor! Not to interfere in Mathematics! Do you know how important this is? This is for smart people, not for uneducated slobs like you!”

The other students laughed. Tatay Lino was so embarrassed that he wanted to sink into the ground.

“Clean that right now! And then, report to the admin office. I’ll excuse you!” Salazar ordered.

Tatay Lino was about to grab the eraser to erase his writing when Dr. Elena Go, the Dean of the University, suddenly entered, having heard the shouting.

“What’s going on here, Prof. Salazar?” the Dean asked.

“This is like a janitor, Dean! The Vancier Conjecture was tampered with! All sorts of nonsense written on it!” Salazar complained.

Dean Go looked at the blackboard and stared intently at the “nonsense” Salazar was saying. Dean’s eyes widened.

“Wait a minute…” Dean Go said as he approached the board and picked up his glasses. “Arthur… look at this.”

“Why would I look at the work of an idiot?” Salazar sneered.

“LOOK!” Dean shouted.

Prof. Salazar was forced to look. He checked the first equation—correct. He checked the derivation—correct. He followed the logic of the formula to the end.

Page: SAY – Story Around You | Original story.

Prof. Salazar’s jaw gradually dropped. He turned pale and the chalk he was holding fell to the floor.

The writing on the board was not dirt. It was not graffiti. It was the solution.

The problem that had been tormenting experts for fifty years was answered cleanly, elegantly, and without error.

“Impossible…” Salazar whispered.

Dean Go turned to Tatay Lino who was still trembling with fear. “Mang Lino, did you write this?” he asked gently.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Tatay Lino replied. “Sorry. I saw that the variable in the third line that Sir Salazar wrote last week was wrong. That’s why it doesn’t match. I just fixed it and continued. I like to solve while taking a break from cleaning.”

“Like?” Dean asked in surprise. “Where did you learn this?”

Tatay Lino scratched his head. “When I was a kid, I was a scholar in Applied Mathematics. I was the topnotcher in our province. My father got sick and we were burned down, so I had to stop studying to work. But I didn’t forget Math. That was my hobby to forget the fatigue.”

The whole class fell silent. The students who had been laughing earlier were now speechless. Prof. Salazar, who always boasted about his PhD, was defeated by a janitor who hadn’t even finished college.

“Prof. Salazar,” Dean Go said seriously, “it seems like you should be the one to learn from Mang Lino. The person you called ‘uneducated’ finished the job you couldn’t do.”

Dean Go approached Father Lino and shook his hand. “Mang Lino, from now on, you will no longer be a janitor. We will give you a Full Scholarship to finish your degree, and I will hire you as a Teaching Assistant.”

Father Lino burst into tears. “Really, Ma’am? Can I go back to school?”

“Yes, Lino. You’re so smart.

is the wealth of this university.”

In the end, Prof. Salazar became the talk of the town in disgrace and eventually resigned due to misconduct issues. Tatay Lino was hailed as the hero of the Mathematics Department. Everyone proved that intelligence is not measured by the shine of shoes or the beauty of clothes, but by the depth of understanding and pure heart.

Disclaimer: The stories here are just fiction and not news. What is important is the lesson and emotions that can happen to anyone. Thank you, SAY!