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» Ship of Fools   »   » Oblivion   » So just how good is your maths?

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Source: (consider it) Thread: So just how good is your maths?
Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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... well, really arithmetic.

The subject has come up on the Purgatory thread about teaching and in the Dead Horses thread on Texan schools so it's topical.

Sporcle have a maths game - click on the right answer for 40 sums in 3 minutes. When I checked the stats
  • only 34.9% managed to complete it,
  • over 30% only managed the first 5-9 questions,
  • and to beat 50% you only had to answer 21 questions.

(I've been teaching maths, so I really should have been able to complete it)

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QLib

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# 43

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40/40 with 11 seconds to go. [Smile]

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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

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40/40, 42 seconds left [Cool]

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Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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Oh, well, if we're giving times, I did it with 53 seconds left! But I suspect that those who aren't completing it aren't boasting.

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QLib

Bad Example
# 43

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Yeah, but I watching telly at the time. [Razz]

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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.

Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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and chatting in the café doesn't count? [Razz]

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Jonah the Whale

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# 1244

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1:24 [Cool]
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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And now we've put off the 65% of people who can't do this ...

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Adam.

Like as the
# 4991

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40/40 with 1:03 left.

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Gwai
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# 11076

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Was I the only one who found finding the numbers took more time than clicking the answers?
(Not mentioning how much time I had left because it doesn't look so great next to Jonah and Hart.)

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Deputy Verger
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# 15876

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Okay. I confess. I only got 7 out of 40 before I did something wrong and got chucked out. So I went and did the Frenetic Foreign Phrases (much more fun) and got 41 out of 42 with 3:55 to spare. "Shtick" was the leftover word but I can't recall what the clue might have been, and I do think I know what it means.
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Sandemaniac
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# 12829

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quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
Was I the only one who found finding the numbers took more time than clicking the answers?

No, you weren't! I got the lot with 18 seconds to go, and I'm not particularly arithmetically minded - I did get a few by looking for numbers in the right region, when the blanking out of the used numbers really helps.

AG

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lily pad
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I couldn't go fast enough - either in answering or finding the numbers.

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Sioni Sais
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# 5713

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quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
Was I the only one who found finding the numbers took more time than clicking the answers?
(Not mentioning how much time I had left because it doesn't look so great next to Jonah and Hart.)

And I thought I'd done really well before I saw their scores! It's usually in Purg. and Hell that I'm reminded how smart I'm not, not in the Circus (OK, except playing Mornington Crescent, which is serious intellectual exercise).

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Boogie

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# 13538

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I'm poor at mental arithmetic and got 40/40 with 10 seconds to spare. So the statistics don't look hopeful!

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Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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Boogie, those stats are from the 20,000 odd who had played that game on Sporcle when I checked them last night. You find them by clicking on the link. They will just be computerised addition

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kingsfold

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# 1726

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40/40 with 44 secs left. Sounds fairly respectable...
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492

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I have met Hart, and I know he used to be a maths tutor at the first university I attended. I shall wait until I am more awake to take the exam....

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balaam

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# 4543

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I thought I could do maths, but only had a pathetic 34 seconds left at the end. [brick wall]

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ken
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# 2460

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Same here, 34 seconds to go. But its hardly "maths", just one kind of arithmetic at about the level we'd have been expected to do in 3rd or 4th year juniors.

Also it gets easier as it goes on as the choices are blanked out, so if you were determined to go through as fast as possible just estimating and hitting the nearest unused answer would work as often as not.

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Gracious rebel

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# 3523

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I discovered while doing this that I find multiplication and division easier than adding and subtracting (when the numbers needed to be added or subtracted are larger than about 5). Weird.

I completed it with about 23 seconds to spare.

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ThunderBunk

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# 15579

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only 16 seconds left. THere was I thinking I was ok at mental arithmetic....

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TurquoiseTastic

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# 8978

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1:24 for me too [Smile]
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the giant cheeseburger
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# 10942

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1:44 [Big Grin]

Would have been far faster if I could have used the keyboard as well as the mouse.

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The Rogue
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1:27 to go.

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Loveheart

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# 12249

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1:07, not helped by forgetting where I was halfway through! [Hot and Hormonal]

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Ricardus
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# 8757

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37/40. I'm obviously the Ship's Dunce ...

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Curiosity killed ...

Ship's Mug
# 11770

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No, honest - I suspect that a lot of people have tried and not posted because they didn't want to admit to their score.

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Chorister

Completely Frocked
# 473

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Taking me a while to work out what to do, mustn't get a wrong answer or the clock stops! [Roll Eyes]

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Chorister

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# 473

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44 seconds to go - my school report would read 'Chorister is a bit slow but she gets there in the end....'

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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.

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East Price Road
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# 13846

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40/40 with 31 secs left.

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North East Quine

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# 13049

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40/40 with 15 seconds left.
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que sais-je
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# 17185

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40/40 with 35 seconds to go but that's unimpressive as a) I have a PhD in Maths and b) I used to teach Computer Science (that makes you expert on 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 - most of which came up).

Now I've lost my slippers. I think I'll have a cup of tea while I recover.

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Caissa
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40/40 with 1:23 left.
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Sioni Sais
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# 5713

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quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
40/40 with 35 seconds to go but that's unimpressive as a) I have a PhD in Maths and b) I used to teach Computer Science (that makes you expert on 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 - most of which came up).

Now I've lost my slippers. I think I'll have a cup of tea while I recover.

I can't imagine a PhD in maths would help. By the time you get to that level maths consists of e, i, δ, π and zero, if you're lucky. What use are they in arithmetic? More use to help you find your slippers.

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Traveller
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# 1943

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Brain dead today, but managed to get them all right with 34 seconds left.

It is a well known truism that no true mathemetician can count or add up. [Biased]

[ 19. July 2012, 17:00: Message edited by: Traveller ]

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Zappa
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# 8433

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I wouldn't even try. Maths and I no like each other.

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TomOfTarsus
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# 3053

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40/40 with 1:00 left. Engineer.

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