Two people can reach the right answer by totally different roads. Don’t let anyone tell you there’s only one.

Being taught one method makes it easy to believe it is the method, especially when whoever teaches it is judged on consistency. Two people can reason in completely different ways and arrive at the same place, and the odd route is often more useful later, because it reaches situations the standard one cannot. Different is not the same as wrong.

When your approach gets questioned, check the answer first. If it holds, explain your route rather than dropping it. Ask other people how they got there too, because that is how you collect methods.