The question that started the thread was imprecisely written. It is not clear, from the wording used, at what point in the process Mary decided she was being cheated by only having one cookie a day while everyone else had two per day. If she only made that decision after a week had gone by, then the cookies would have lasted longer than 21 days. If she decided that at the opening gun, then why the heck did they say that she was only going to have one cookie in the first place when she never did that in practice? <grumble> See, this is why intelligent people sometimes have more trouble on certain kinds of tests than people of more average intelligence--they see more possibilities than the test-developer anticipated if the question isn't written carefully enough.
BTW, I have a degree in applied math (although I'm not currently actively using it), so I'm not just blowing smoke. Logic puzzles are my favorite, too.
And I'm thinking I wouldn't be offering any more chocolate wafers to that last kid on the team--the one who took 15 cookies at once.
BM, congratulations, you are neck-and-neck with a 4th grader!
Oh, and Kerry, I would love to be able to explain how magnets work, but the "Electricity & Magnetism" section of my freshman physics class was what made me decide to drop the physics part of my math and physics double major. I can talk about double-slit wave experiments and acceleration all day, but I still refuse to have anything to do with electricity that is more involved than flipping light switches...even if I did unscrew a switch plate and look inside at the wires the other day when my GFI tripped!
Peace, Dawn
Me 45/H 47, no kids Together since 1985; M/1992 Bomb1 (EA-OW1, age 22) 2001 Bomb2 (EA/PA-OW2, age 22) 10/2007, A continues H left 11/24/08 minimal contact, no legal action http://tinyurl.com/DawnHope1
See, this is why intelligent people sometimes have more trouble on certain kinds of tests than people of more average intelligence--they see more possibilities than the test-developer anticipated if the question isn't written carefully enough.
Dawn that explains everything!!!
See Jack that was why I was so perplexed!!!!
There can be no testimony without a test. I am praying to go through this test and come out the other end with a new and better marriage then before.
See, this is why intelligent people sometimes have more trouble on certain kinds of tests than people of more average intelligence--they see more possibilities than the test-developer anticipated if the question isn't written carefully enough.
Dawn that explains everything!!!
See Jack that was why I was so perplexed!!!!
BND, Gosh, it's nice to know that something I said helps someone! In the last couple of years I have tutored a math-phobic friend (who went back to finish college in her 40s, and was absolutely terrified of taking her first math course in over 20 years) through college algebra and physics (and with flying colors, as I knew she was capable of even if she didn't believe it), so I may not have anything to do with the jungle-gym age range, but I've analyzed a lot of word problems recently.
And the quote you pulled out from my last message is absolutely true. It's especially noteworthy on multiple-choice tests--I mean, what if you get asked something like, oh..."Which one of the following was not a composer who worked during the baroque period?" and you happen to know that _all_ of those listed were, but the test-writers had never heard of one of them because he was seriously obscure? This is a really lame example, but you get the idea.
I remember when I was in high school geometry (9th grade), and we had been learning to calculate volume. We had a test problem involving a cube inside a sphere (a 3-D situation), but the drawing accompanying the problem was for a square inside a circle (2-D), and the measurements weren't the same (the diagonal of a cube is not the same length as the diagonal of a square, even if the sides are the same length). Unlike most of the class, I worked the problem using the 3-D numbers, and was marked wrong. When I objected, and explained the discrepancy I saw between the figure and the wording of the problem, it fired up a big debate, which was only settled after one of the other math teachers in the school (who happened to be the father of one of the other students in my class, and had taught all of us algebra the previous year) came in and talked to our instructor about the problem, using a toy block and a hollow ball to demonstrate the distinction. I can still envision the two of them standing there in front of the class, our instructor looking baffled, and the other teacher talking a blue streak and plopping the block into the plastic half-sphere and drawing on the chalkboard. Our instructor finally understood what we were talking about, and told the class that either the 3-D or the 2-D solution would be considered correct.
And if you're thinking I told that story to show how smart I am...well, if you twisted my arm, I would have to admit to there being some truth to that. Truthfully, it doesn't even quite match up with my original point...but I think it's a good story anyway. But really, what I wanted to say was that being intelligent, especially if one is creative too, can sometimes backfire because one sees all kinds of possibilities that those in testing mode never imagined.
<shakes head> Wow, in terms of sticking to topic, I'm really meandering around tonight.
Peace, Dawn
Me 45/H 47, no kids Together since 1985; M/1992 Bomb1 (EA-OW1, age 22) 2001 Bomb2 (EA/PA-OW2, age 22) 10/2007, A continues H left 11/24/08 minimal contact, no legal action http://tinyurl.com/DawnHope1
In the last couple of years I have tutored a math-phobic friend (who went back to finish college in her 40s, and was absolutely terrified of taking her first math course in over 20 years) through college algebra and physics (and with flying colors, as I knew she was capable of even if she didn't believe it), so I may not have anything to do with the jungle-gym age range, but I've analyzed a lot of word problems recently.