I guess the way I interpreted it wasn't "can you do this?". It's more like "we need this problem solved, and I already gave a try". Again that was younger me, these days I would just kinda query their approach instead.

It was long ago so I don't really remember if the phrasing was "do you know..." or not, but yeah now I agree that just give people direct answers and maybe an open offer like "do you need another set of eyes?" or just leave them alone.