test your math skills. (1 Viewer)

[PeterK]

Very easy little test to do. 20 multiple choice.quiz
I got 20/20. But if I used no calculator, and had a time restriction, it probably would have been 18 or 19

Good luck!!

 

[Michael Warner]

I only got 13 of 20 but I used no calculator or pencil and paper and haven't had my first cup of joe today. That's my excuse.

 

[JamesED]

No calculator, but I used a 4'x4' pad of paper and a pen. 20/20, took me less than 10 mins to complete.

I'm an engineering/physics major right now. Now, asking me to take a 20 question lit. test..

 

[ThomasC]

Got 20/20, but used a calculator on some. #11 took me forever to figure out, and my method of eventually getting it right was different than theirs. Here's how they got it and how I got it.

The question was "What is next in this sequence? 2, 3, 8, 63..." Their answer was 3968, and you get the next number in the sequence by squaring the previous number and subtracting one. I got it by multiplying the numbers before and after it. For 2, I multiplied 1 and 3. For 3, I multiplied 2 and 4. For 8, I multiplied 7 and 9. And so on...

 

[Haggai]

I haven't taken the quiz, but Thomas, your method works the same way as theirs because of something familiar from algebra:

x^2 - 1 = (x+1)*(x-1)


You may have already realized that, just thought I'd point it out. Math is fun!

 

[ThomasC]

Didn't realize that, but it kicked back in once I saw your explanation. Not taking math classes for four years will do that to me.

Meh. I didn't do too well in geometry (proofs ) and calculus (limits were the bane of my existence), but I was great with algebra.

 

[DavidBL]

20/20, no pencil, used a calculator on 2 problems because I was lazy. One key to doing this quiz in your head is to eliminate obviously wrong answers, and often you're only left with one correct choice. For example, on the last problem, there is only one x^2 term in the whole equation. All you have to do is figure out the x^2 multiplier and look at the answers, there was only one answer with that multiplier.

 

[george kaplan]

I think the point is to not use a calculator. All of the ones that look like they need a calculator don't.

These aren't the numbers, but there was one problem where you had to add two "big" numbers, let's pretend they're

1,230,486 and 5,428,238

with possible answers:

6,728,083
7,002,981
6,658,724
6,568,725

The answer is immediately obvious once you add 6+8.

There were 'tricks' like that on most problems don't remember what an isocleses triangle is? When one answer is 3 equal sides and another answer is 3 equal angles, you can eliminate both those answers immediately

 

[EugeneR]

Got 19 but missed a gimme. What's the formula for calculating the third side of a triangle again? :b It's been a long time...

 

[ThomasC]

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

 

[DavidBL]

As long as it's a right triangle, of course, otherwise it gets a bit uglier...

c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2*a*b*cos(C), where C is the angle opposite the unknown side (c).

Man, I don't miss school...

 

[george kaplan]

Well 3,4,5 is pretty basic stuff. I didn't use a formula on that.

 

[BrianW]

20 out of 20, but I used a calculator on the percentage/ratio stuff because of laziness.

If you used a calculator on the negative exponent problems, however, your problem isn't laziness. You need to brush up on your exponent tricks of the trade.

 

[Tim Hoover]

20/20 here as well, but I used a calculator on a couple of questions because it's early and I really didn't want to work it out by hand...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

19/20 here. I was very rusty on factors -- but it's been 25 years since I've seen them, so I'm claiming senility on that one.

 

[Jason Pancake]

20/20

Math is fun! The practical application of math (and computer science) is much more fun though!

 

[Hunter P]

20/20 with no calc. Hurray for multiple choice quizzes.

I always contended that I could walk into any course on a college campus and get a passing grade on their multiple choice quiz regardless of my expertise in that course. In fact, that is kinda how I passed my Calc II course. I skipped half the classes (as did everyone else in the class) and slept at my desk on the other half. I don't recall ever opening the book except to pretend to be following along with the lecture even though I was really doodling. I never studied and got a B+ in the course. Today I can barely do long division.

So again I say, hurray for multiple choice quizzes. And for that matter hurray for grading on a curve.

 

[JamesED]

Good luck doing that for an engineering exam here. They have around 12 answer choices per question.

 

[george kaplan]

If your calculus class used multiple-choice tests, that's pretty sad.

 

[RobertR]

19/20, simply because I reversed Cathy and Brian, but the numbers were correct.