Posted on 12/30/2006 9:36:31 AM PST by achilles2000
Math pop quiz stumps Randi
BY ERIN EINHORN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Talk about a high-stakes test. The radio audience was live and the question for teachers union president Randi Weingarten involved sixth-grade math: "What's 1/3rd plus 1/4th?"...
Mike Pesca, who was filling in for Lehrer, introduced the show's education topic by saying American college grads can't do basic math while high school grads in Canada and middle-schoolers in India have no trouble.
After Weingarten stumbled, another guest quickly produced the correct answer: 7/12ths, leaving Weingarten to explain herself.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
ROTFLOL
Actually our answer is usually the same answer.
What do you want 1/3 + 1/4 to be?
Since menopausal women have a higher testosterone to estrogen ratio than they did as pre-menopausal women, and older men have a lower testosterone ratio than younger men, it stands to reason that as they age, men and women become more alike than different in this respect.
BTW I really dislike blanket putdowns of a group. Try facts next time, not irrelevant comments.
"Try that one with 2/3 + 1/7"
That would have to be 2*7 + 3 over 7 * 3 = 17/21.
ahh..so, just for fun, you multiply the numerator of fraction x (x=in this case 2/3) times the denominator of fraction y (y=in this case 1/7) and then add the result to the denominator of x and place that sum over the product of the x denominator and the y denominator.
Very good...and simple to understand too :)
It was a joke.
>look for a least common denominator - the prime factorization of 3 is "3", and that of 4 is "2*2", so the LCD is "3*2*2", and thus "12".<
Thanks for this. I reverted back to the way I learned in elementary school, but using least common denominators works so much better with harder fractions.
Ok, I admit it, I spent the entire year in the math lab getting through calculus (but, hey, I passed with a decent grade).
No problem. ;)
Many carpenters have a calculator that does fraction operations. But, they have to do it longhand for their apprentice test. They can also do squareroots longhand. Find a carpenter and ask him or her.
A hangover
1/2+1/3: 2+3=5; 2*3=6; 5/6 is the answer.
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wait, wait, slow down. I'm writting the answer on my palm.
Your going to hate the next question, 1/3+1/5+1/7+1/11+1/17+1/19=?
"What's 1/3rd plus 1/4th?"...
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not appropriate for my class. Some or all of my students would feel humiliated to the point of dropping out. The stress on them would be counter productive and discriminatory. We should give the answer first so that they'll feel good about their abilities when the question is asked. /sarc off
"Your going to hate the next question, 1/3+1/5+1/7+1/11+1/17+1/19=?"
3+5+7+11+17+19 / 3*5*7*11*17*19 = 62/373,065.
Given your use of prime numbers for denominators and 1's for numerators, the formula still works the same. Fascinating -- and I wish I'd known this when I was teaching the stuff!
See my post #96 and #85 by Dinsdale.
What is strange is so few, if any, mentioned that we now have handheld calculators that will handle fractions.
I wish I had put 1/13 in the chain along with 1/21 then even the stingiest pie slicer would have run out of pie to slice.
Your going to hate the next question, 1/3+1/5+1/7+1/11+1/17+1/19=?
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Good example of why I made sure I had someone on my staff who could answer questions like that. When I was working ofcourse. Being retired allows me the luxury of not thinking at all.
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