Author Topic: You Groan, You Lose (Read 180157 times)

Insane Steve · « **Reply #300 on:** February 03, 2013, 03:18:04 AM »

Grading papers over the weekend for overtime pay. One of the questions on the paper is:

"True or False: Given two numbers x and y, if x/y > 0, then x > 0 and y > 0. If this is false, explain why or give a counterexample."

This is actually missed pretty frequently. However, I grab a paper to grade today and the answer they gave was:

"False because nothing is greater than zero."

I lost, silently wept to myself, and ragequit the paper for the day. Like, how do I even correct this without being condescending? "Your answer is correct, but your reasoning is not correct. For example, 1 is greater than zero."

whyyyyyyy

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #301 on:** February 03, 2013, 06:13:41 AM »

I wouldn't worry too much about it. That looks like standard I'm-guessing-and-thus-have-no-explanation-but-still-want-to-write-something-to-troll-the-teacher procedure.

Weegee · « **Reply #302 on:** February 03, 2013, 06:43:38 PM »

Maybe he's referring to the philosophical concept of zero, being both empty but filled, albeit with nothing.

dude

Ym9iYnlzcTEzMzc equalsign · « **Reply #303 on:** February 04, 2013, 10:51:25 PM »

I think it was less of a groan and more of a PSY, but still lost.

jdaster64 · « **Reply #304 on:** February 05, 2013, 12:20:22 AM »

@Insane Steve: I feel you there; I'm a grader for a stats class for math majors and every now and then things just about that stupid come up.

@equalsign: It was inevitable, I suppose.

Weegee · « **Reply #305 on:** February 09, 2013, 04:22:03 AM »

Insane Steve · « **Reply #306 on:** February 09, 2013, 02:25:24 PM »

On a related aside from my previous post, the fact that almost 2/3rds the population "fails" this test made me lose today.

Suffix · « **Reply #307 on:** February 09, 2013, 03:28:38 PM »

I passed it! But not for the right reason perhaps. I assumed that the less precise definition of statement 2 inherehently made it more likely than 4, rather than seeing that their definitions overlap.

Weegee · « **Reply #308 on:** February 09, 2013, 04:36:21 PM »

I got too hung up on looking for a trick so I ended up guessing 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 and "passing".

Luigison · « **Reply #309 on:** February 10, 2013, 05:29:11 PM »

http://www.markshed.com/stag.htm

Weegee · « **Reply #310 on:** February 11, 2013, 04:25:05 AM »

I lost.

You Cringe, You Lose

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSLx_ItMJEA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSLx_ItMJEA</a>

PaperLuigi · « **Reply #311 on:** February 11, 2013, 01:37:26 PM »

My brother showed me that a few days ago and I'm sad to say I watched the entire thing. And yes, I lost hard.

Weegee · « **Reply #312 on:** February 11, 2013, 10:03:55 PM »

Language and whatnot.

Insane Steve · « **Reply #313 on:** February 12, 2013, 04:31:03 PM »

Didn't lose until the "half as long as the universe" comment :|

Suffix · « **Reply #314 on:** February 12, 2013, 04:59:45 PM »

Yeah, I think you can be forgiven for extrapolating that the Olympics has been going on uninterrupted for 3000 years. It's unimaginative, yes, but it reflects a lack of knowledge as opposed to bad knowledge.