My first thought in this context was this is a 9th grade math problem, not programming. If the problem relating it has to do with how a computer can do it - do they not allow calculator use anymore?

I can not imagine that schooling has gone so far backwards with so many advances, or at the least I really hope that it has not. I was not even in advanced math courses and was/am average at best when it comes to math and would have thought the confusion would happen when getting to something like:

    x = "hello" 
    y = "world!" 
    z = x + " " + y

where it stops looking like something your entry level high school math class has you doing 30 odd problems a day on.