Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The Ultimate Bad Homework Question Thread!

Or, an appropriate rule of thumb would be: given specific quantity needs, always round up, even if it's further to round up than down. Then, if you come up short, you may have a problem, and should do a more precise calculation. If you don't come up short, you know you're okay.

Somehow I doubt that's what the question-writer had in mind.

Dude: That goes to my point about the obsession with estimation. Trust me-- you're not supposed to say that she shouldn't be estimating. I've seen a lot of these dumb problems.

LNE: Yep, my DD does the same thing. She just solves the actual problem. It's easy enough.

Yup. What ultramarina said. You are not supposed to point out the many ways in which estimation is inappropriate or problematic. Ever.

Even when the answer is patently foolish in light of the more accurate answer, saying so is verboten.

DD hated those estimation problems. The entire concept was ridiculous to her.

Not homework but classwork ...

From someone at College Confidential http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14975348-post85.html

"I am not claiming to have any special ability, but when I was in the third grade in a small school in Hellhole, Texas, I received a similar assignment to the one Gauss received and came up with a similar solution in a couple of minutes. But when I showed my teacher my solution in Hellhole, she screamed at me and called me lazy and told me to do it the long way like the other children. If Gauss had grown up in a place like Hellhole, it's quite possible we would never have heard of him."

Gauss was given the problem of computing

1 + 2 + ... + 100

and figured out that it equals 50 * (1 + 100) = 5050.

The correct answer is "always round up and then see if you can return or sell the inevitable leftovers." <--says the woman with far too many single skeins of yarn because of this very tendency, and then a tendency to never get around to returning or selling stuff.

I still remember in fourth grade having to do a worksheet on True/False statement. One of the statements was something along the line of the moon givesoff light at night" to which I answered "False". The teacher marked it wrong and I got into an all out argument with the teacher regarding the fact that the moon has no energy source of its own and therefore does NOT give off light but, instead, reflects the light from the sun.

Another question on the same assignment showed two drawings of a desk. One was messy, with papers and books strewn all over it while the other was neat and organized with everything in nice plies. The statement was something along the lines of "These two desks look different." I again answered "False" and again had to argue with the teacher because the desks themselves were actually identical, it was only the placement of the surrounding oblects that had changed, so, no, the DESKS did NOT look different.

Even in college Algebra I had a debate with the T.A. for our Algebra class that if she wanted to see a pecific equation in response to a problem that she should say so. Otherwise, I felt that my diagrams, sketches and scribbles should have been sufficient evidence of "Showing your work", especially since I got the correct answer. We also had a little cdebate about what the purpose of mathematics should be, reciting memorized formulas or using logic and higher level thinking skills to understand the nature of a given problem and finding a way to solve it. We got along pretty well after that but her subsequent tests all stated "Please show your equations."

Ok, here's one from my grade 10 gym (which included sex ed), since you guys are making me think about all kinds of auful things...

"If a couple has sex, but the man withdraws before any emission occurs, can pregnancy occur?"

"correct" answere was "yes"

That word, I do not think it means what you think it means...

Re: estimation. I would answer that she rounded wrong, but would have caught her error if she had observed the small margin of errorr and followed up with a more exact calculation, as is appropriate when rounding.

LA sheet.

"Negative prefixes Im- and Il-

Choose the correct prefix for each of the word definitions below.

Not mortal
Not patient
Not perfect
Not legal
Not regular"


"Mama??"

:facepalm:

Oh, clearly the last one is supposed to be ABNORMAL.

Maybe it's "illogical" instead, since that is more in keeping with the worksheet's overall gestalt.


Then again, that gets back to "imperfect" since the primary meaning isn't exactly the same.

We're all now enjoying referring to things as "imregular."