Within very short order, what started out as two people studying mathematics became the same two people accusing each other of not communicating. A stranger listening might conclude that either one person was incapable of explaining the solution or the other was unable to hear the explanation correctly. While both rationales for what occurred could be true at the same time, it is more than likely that one individual or the other or both was upset for a entirely different reason. Consider for a moment that the learner might be responding to an internal fear that they might never understand the concept. If the instructor then responds from an internal fear as well, that is, for example, with a sense of inadequacy in instructing or communicating, whether correct or not, then both parties have made the small stuff become bigger stuff.
Communication further suffers when egos have engaged, ready to escalate the ante further.
In my philosophy class, I asked my students what they really needed as compared to what they wanted. Most of them answered that they required the basic necessities to sustain life and love. That is, Maslow studied healthy minds. Maslow called those people who pursued the limits of their capabilities, those individuals who were creative and in search of wisdom as self-actualizing persons. Maslow's best known contribution to psychiatry was the human hierarchy of needs.