In a similar vein, a student was told to expand (a+b)^n
to which he replied ( a + b ) ^ n.
:-)
Tim F
-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Bob
Sciamanda
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:41 AM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: [Phys-l] fun ill-posed questions
I was forwarded the following test question & answer. It may be an
actual event or just a fictitious joke. Anyway, it's worth a laugh!
The question Included a drawing of a right triangle. The legs of the
triangle are labeled "3 cm" and "4 cm"; the hypotenuse is labeled "x" .
The instruction with the drawing queried: "Find x".
The student's answer was a text balloon saying "Here it is!" with an
arrow pointing to the "x " symbol which labelled the hypotenuse in the
figure.:
Here is the text forwarded to me, along with the (attached) drawing:
Attached is problem 3 on a geometry examination. It is the solution
submitted by a beautiful blonde student. It is our understanding that
after careful
scrutiny, the student was given credit for the answer by the teacher.
When hearing
of this the Board of Education warned math teachers to be more explicit
in the
wording of examination problems but was hesitant to suggest how.