Question 72970
Since the perimeter is 4 inches and the sides have to be whole numbers, if one of the sides
were 2, then another side would also have to be 2 and there wouldn't be any more length left
for the other two sides.
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You have hit upon the only solution that matches the criteria that you were given ... whole
numbers for sides and not more than 4 units in length.
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But you didn't recognize the point that the teacher was trying to make. The teacher was
trying to show you that your answer was really a rectangle, but it was a special case of a
rectangle ... a square is a rectangle that happens to have 4 equal sides.
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Another way to look at it is to remember "All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles
are squares." Some rectangles have lengths that are greater than their widths.
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Sort of similar to saying "All spaniels are dogs, but not all dogs are spaniels."
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You did a really good job of coming up with the only set of numbers that would work.  Shows 
you were thinking about it in the right way. Some day you may get to be really good at
math if you continue to work at it with the same thought you showed toward this problem.