[webwarrior]

Didn't get the "engineering major" part. Why he thought that 9 is prime?

[Xurinos]

I didn't get it either, but my guess: The engineering student took a literal view. You told him to evaluate the statement; you gave him a rule. If you say all odd numbers greater than 1 are prime, then so be it.

[dbaupp]

I think it might just be implying that engineering students aren't very good at mathematics.

[tel]

Because he doesn't understand what "evaluate the hypothesis" means.