"MATH IS HARD!"
Posted on 11/08/2007 1:56:05 PM PST by steve-b
Camelot has withdrawn its short-lived "Cool Cash" scratchcard after it required a higher than absolute zero grasp of how numbers work to understand it.
According to the Manchester Evening News, to qualify for a prize, punters had to "scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card". Sadly, as the card had a decidedly wintery theme, this initially-shown figure was often below zero.
Cue anarchy, as Camelot was beseiged by "dozens" of confused customers who thought they'd won, but suffered a "computer says no" snub.
Among these was Levenshulme's Tina Farrel, a 23-year-old who admitted "she had left school without a maths GCSE". She explained: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't.
"I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8, but I'm not having it.
"I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled."
A Camelot spokeswoman said: "The instructions for playing the Cool Cash scratchcard are clear - and are printed on each individual card and in the game procedures available at each retailer. However, because of the potential for player confusion we have decided to withdraw the game."
The Manchester Evening News concludes: "More than 15 million adults in Britain have poor numeracy - the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE maths."
I don't care who you are, that's milk-coming-out-of-your-nose laughing funny.
ARTHUR:
It’s true! It’s true! The crown has made it clear.
The climate must be perfect all the year.
A law was made a distant moon ago here:
July and August cannot be too hot.
And there’s a legal limit to the snow here
In Camelot.
The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the second on the dot.
By order, summer lingers through September
In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot
That’s how conditions are.
The rain may never fall till after sundown.
By eight, the morning fog must disappear.
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it gives a person pause,
But in Camelot, Camelot
Those are the legal laws.
The snow may never slush upon the hillside.
By nine p.m. the moonlight must appear.
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
I’ve always said that lotteries are a tax on inumerate people, but I didn’t know that I really meant it.
"I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8, but I'm not having it."I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled."
Blimey! How can this be???
British brains dominate list of living geniuses (Telegraph UK Oct. 28, 2007)
Yes, imagine. Are you smarter than a fifth grader?
For two dollars (the basic bet), the bettor could pick the winners in six consecutive races. Each additional combination cost an additional two dollars. The bet was complex enough that instead of having to call it out (speak comprehensibly), the bettor blacked out his choices on a special card that was then run through a reader and the bet calculated.
My window had a betting limit of $5,000. I don't know how many times I had to tell people to go to the Line Supervisor's window (unlimited bet ceiling) because they would come up with the entire card blacked out. I would then have to patiently explain the concept of permutation, and that the cost of the ticket was not simply two times the number of runners selected. When that failed (and it inevitably did), I simply ran the ticket through the scanner and showed them the "Bet Exceeds Limit" message.
"MATH IS HARD!"
Liberals wanted a dumbed down society and took over the school system to accomplish their agenda. Unfortunately, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. I’m sure the results would have been similar on this side of the Atlantic.
But I’ll bet the young fool has wonderful self esteem....
Poor Tina must have gone through some of those “math” classes where it didn’t matter whether you got the answer right, as long as you went through the “process”...
"Would" have been?
“Math is hard.”
“It’s beyond my Ken.”
“But fortunately Ken is hard, too!”
Our local Target store had a 10% off sale, but forgot to program the registers to automatically calculate a 10% credit. The cashiers could key in the 10% credit, but nobody could figure out what 10% came to. Even when they distributed calculators, the math was too difficult. They had to post a sign saying the advertised 10% off could not be honored.
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