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Freethought & Rationalism ArchiveThe archives are read only. |
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| View Poll Results: How did you do on the test? | |||
| I got them all right! - 19 |
   
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26 | 35.62% |
| Almost all right - 17-18 |
  
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28 | 38.36% |
| I missed some - 13-16 |
  
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11 | 15.07% |
| I can't remember all of that crap! |
  
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6 | 8.22% |
| I missed a lot, I hate math! |
  
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2 | 2.74% |
| I cheated and used a calculator! |
  
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0 | 0% |
| Voters: 73. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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03-17-2003, 07:39 AM
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#11 |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Greensboro, NC, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,597
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Woohoo! An 'A' in 8th grade math!
I got 18/19, but only because of a math error in calculating the area of the circle...
Damn math errors! 
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03-17-2003, 07:41 AM
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#12 | |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Roanoke, VA, USA
Posts: 2,646
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Quote:
 Pi=3 is useful for "back of the napkin" calculations, but for serious stuff you need more precision. The Lord approximately works in mysterious ways! NPM |
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03-17-2003, 07:48 AM
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#13 |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 1,827
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"Back of the napkin?!" Is that one step removed from "back of the envelope?"
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03-17-2003, 07:53 AM
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#14 |
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Regular Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Western U.S.A.
Posts: 293
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19/19 in my head. There were a couple of dicey arithmetic bits that a pen and paper would have helped with. Otherwise it boils down to remembering a few things (how to calculate the area of a circle, how to figure out the hypotenuse of a right triangle, etc.).
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03-17-2003, 07:53 AM
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#15 |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Lincoln, AL
Posts: 1,048
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15/19 :(
I got bogged down on some of the non-obvious math questions. Had I been able to use a calculator, I would have done better, probably 19/19.
That brings up a point about the opinions I've heard about computers and calculators. A lot of folks think that they are dumbing down students by computing answers for them. To some extent, I guess I agree. After all, with using a calculator, I had some trouble with multiplying large numbers and long division. But I think it's more important to know the math behind these calculations, to know what the numbers are actually doing. I could write a program that would allow students to plug in the numbers for every one of these problems and get them all correct. But then that would measure the accuracy of my program rather than the readyness the of the student for graduation. With just a calculator, they have to know how to do the math before they could even start to put in numbers. Dirty Dog |
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03-17-2003, 08:16 AM
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#16 | |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Heaven
Posts: 6,980
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Quote:
19/19 |
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03-17-2003, 08:25 AM
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#17 |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: .
Posts: 1,281
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19/19
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03-17-2003, 08:28 AM
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#18 | |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Santa Fe, NM
Posts: 2,362
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Quote:
19/19 -- I was somewhat suprised at the "number of paths" question, though. The answer is pretty obvious in this case, but I can't see a good way to generalize it with 8th grade math knowledge. |
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03-17-2003, 08:37 AM
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#19 |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Median strip of DC beltway
Posts: 1,888
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I can't do arithmetic in my head, like many others I seem to have lost that ability as I learned calc. I got 18/19 because I *severely* overthought the first problem. Been a computer scientist too long, I see the words "start in this city[...] end in this city[...] how many [...] routes[..]?" and automatically go for the O(N!) answer.
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03-17-2003, 08:47 AM
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#20 |
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Contributor
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Folding@Home in upstate NY
Posts: 14,394
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19/19! But that's to be expected from someone with a BS in Mathematics!
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