[markc]

>seems like you think that it was stupid

Because I mentioned the expression on his face? I didn't intend to convey that I was laughing at him for that - only that he was (understandably) surprised, and I enjoyed that.

I don't think it was stupid. The chemical equation balancing was highly relevant, and I did learn a lot from that. In some sense it was like "testing out" of the class - by mastering a homework challenge that was much harder than any of the class material.

The "million" challenge was interesting as well, and I did learn from it, but not about Chemistry. I knew I had the A less than halfway into the term, so I stopped doing chem homework. That was not optimal if the goal was to teach me Chemistry. In that sense, the first challenge was probably better.