A level maths question
Posted: Fri May 18, 2018 8:39 am
From yesterday's OCR AS Level Further Maths Statistics paper.
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I would hope that you get your single mark for saying something like that. Probably the anticipated answer is that a a linear transformation of one set of data has no effect.Jonathan Rogers wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 8:58 amHow would candidates be able to answer the final question from the limited information given about ELO ratings?
And then when the answer is wrong by a factor of 10 they have no idea, because it's just a number. When I operated in the financial derivatives markets it was always fun to deal with people who thought the value of an option was simply whatever their computer said it was.Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:31 amSurely everyone would just put the data into Excel, plot a graph, and choose the option in the settings to tell you what r is?
Well, r in the context of what Excel produces - which before someone points it out, I realise isn't the same as PMCC - is a figure between 0 and 1, so it'd be impressive to be out by a factor of 10 and not notice.NickFaulks wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:41 amAnd then when the answer is wrong by a factor of 10 they have no idea, because it's just a number. When I operated in the financial derivatives markets it was always fun to deal with people who thought the value of an option was simply whatever their computer said it was.Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:31 amSurely everyone would just put the data into Excel, plot a graph, and choose the option in the settings to tell you what r is?
Yes, but they don't!Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:45 amThen you use your brain to work out if the answer is reasonable or nonsense.
I have seen A level maths students solving equations with the aid of their programmable calculator and getting as far as something like cos x = 2 without grasping that something must have gone wrong. Cos is a button on a calculator, nothing more.Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:45 amso it'd be impressive to be out by a factor of 10 and not notice.
NickFaulks wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:47 amYes, but they don't!Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:45 amThen you use your brain to work out if the answer is reasonable or nonsense.
These things are precisely why you should be taught to use the computer to do the grunt work and teach the human recognise when it's gone wrong, rather than regurgitating a formula you've been told to memorise and then plugging numbers into it. The former is much more important a skill these days.NickFaulks wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:57 amI have seen A level maths students solving equations with the aid of their programmable calculator and getting as far as something like cos x = 2 without grasping that something must have gone wrong. Cos is a button on a calculator, nothing more.Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 9:45 amso it'd be impressive to be out by a factor of 10 and not notice.
Vaguely relevant to how things are taught, but why teach the counting of the pieces off the board? Why not those on the board?Brian Valentine wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 10:55 amI hope he doesn't advocate getting out the calculator on their mobile phone to add up each set of points on taken pieces.