Did the Professor Stutter?
To become a university professor, you have to do tons of research, which means you should have a keen eye for details. Also, you’re lecturing the youth of our great nation to become leaders, so their futures are quite literally in the hands of our greatest teaching minds.
Unfortunately for the OP, their professor couldn’t have cared less about answering their question. Also, what is it with university professors’ brief responses to long emails? Sometimes, a simple “yes” or “no” does not suffice, especially when a student’s grade in your subject is on the line! When in doubt, assume their answer is to the first question since that’s probably all the professor read.