Take the Maths Challenge
Sean Martin 5:45pm
The think-tank Reform has just wired us a copy of their maths challenge – a set of 10 questions designed not only to test the grey-matter, but also to promote a rigorous maths curriculum. The challenge will be distributed at the party conferences – to see how the politicos fare – but we’ve reproduced it below for the benefit of CoffeeHousers. For information on how to have your answers checked, click here. Do let us know how you get on…
Questions
Note: These problems are designed to be tackled without a calculator
1.(a) 15 x 9 = ?;
(b) (2 1/2 + 5/3 ) ÷ 2 1/2 = ?
2.When you count “1, 2, 3, …” out loud, what is the first number you come to that contains an “a”?
3.What is the angle between the hands of Big Ben at 9.15?
4. Fresh apricots have a moisture content of 80%. When left in the sun to dry they lose 75% of their moisture content. What is the moisture content of dried apricots?
5. 4! is a short way of writing “4 x 3 x 2 x 1”. So 4! hours is the same as 1day; and 5! minutes is the same as 2 hours. How many weeks is the same as 10! seconds?
6. (a) How many presents did I receive altogether on “The Twelfth Day of Christmas”? (The “partridge in a pear tree” counts as one present.)
(b) How many presents did I receive altogether during all twelve days of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?
7.I have two tortoises called David and Cameron. David is now twice as old as Cameron was when David was as old as Cameron is now. When Cameron is as old as David is now, the sum of their ages will be 63. How old are David and Cameron now?
8.Nick and Gordon each receive presents shaped like cuboids (or “boxes”). Each is tied with three loops of string – one in each of the three possible directions. Nick’s package has loops of lengths 40cm, 60cm, 60cm, while Gordon’s package has loops of lengths 40cm, 60cm, 80cm. Decide whose package has the larger volume, and find the volumes of the two packages.
9. David and Gordon take 2 hours to complete a job working together. Gordon and Nick take 3 hours to complete the job. Nick and David take 4 hours for the same job. How long would all three of them take to finish the job working together?
10. If I walk up the up-escalator taking one step per second, I make 20 steps before arriving at the top. If I take two steps per second, I take 32 steps before reaching the top. How long would it take to get to the top standing still?
Previous
mac
September 10th, 2008 6:38pm Report this commentAre these the actual questions? If they are what's to stop a crib sheet being taken along to the conference? Oh, sorry, our politicians are too principled to contemplate doing that in order to preen.
I suspect that ministers will just sniffily refuse to bother with such a meaningful test. After all, the New Labour lexicon in the interests of fairness and equality surely requires that those taking the test should exercise their right to decide for themselves what the answers should be. That's only fair in our class-riddled society, isn't it? Everyone deserves an A*, the more so if you went to an inner city comprehensive in a Labour constituency.
And I hope none of the test's compilers are found to have attended Oxbridge, public school or grammar school: if they did, then stand by for socialist bleating about an elitist and dastardly right-wing conspiracy contrived to humiliate the disadvantaged.
salieri
September 10th, 2008 7:41pm Report this commentIs this test intended for adults or children? This is sub-O-level stuff. Either way, it speaks volumes about standards of 'education' - but perhaps that was the point?
Moxon
September 10th, 2008 8:03pm Report this commentArithmetic is so....yesterday!
Asa
September 10th, 2008 8:03pm Report this commentWhy do I want to work out if Gordon's package is bigger than Nick's?
*snigger*
Tiberius
September 10th, 2008 10:09pm Report this commentRe Q.9: I thought trick questions were never set.
occasional ranter
September 10th, 2008 10:36pm Report this commentMoan moan moan ! Stop muttering at the back, and get on with the test !
Searcher
September 10th, 2008 10:43pm Report this commentMost of these questions are just puzzles, with just a tenuous connection to mathematics, and not a much greater one to numeracy. I suppose that with a degree in mathematics and an accountancy qualification, I should know something about that, but as far as expertise in gimmicks go, I yield pride of place to Reform.
I think that much more could be done with the computerised teaching of numeracy. With that in mind, I recently bought a DVD on Key stage 2 mathematics and put myself through the tests. I was doing OK on the arithmetic, but when it came to the question about which of these figures has four axes of symmetry, I just had to guess. I wonder who is the genius who thinks that you need to know that when you’re ten?
Mark Heenan
September 11th, 2008 2:39am Report this commentPredictably it turns out Nick's package is considerably larger than Gordon's...
occasional ranter
September 11th, 2008 7:56am Report this commentTiberius - you've got me worried. I thought q.9 was answerable, as long as one could assume that each individual has a constant work rate and in particular that it is unaffected by his choice of workmate ?
Fibonacci
September 11th, 2008 10:54am Report this commentNot sure I agree with you Salieri. As far as I can see Qu 7 (the answer is not the obvious one) needs higher maths. Or am I over complicating?
occasional ranter
September 11th, 2008 2:10pm Report this commentQ.7 involves algebra - simultaneous (linear) equations. That's classic O-level material from the "good old days": see q.11 here:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/gcses2000/story/0,,358622,00.html
salieri
September 11th, 2008 2:49pm Report this commentFibonacci, I salute your genius, which even Dan Brown has heard of.
Not sure if higher maths had been invented in my day, and if it had I didn't get it; but all the complexity here is in the wording.
(Rule 1 - RTBQ)
Simple quadratic equations seemed to work last night,
despite (because of?) a glass of wine, and reduce to:
C = 3/4D and
1 1/2 D + C = 63
(sorry, can't write fractions properly here)
and hence neat multiples of 7: 3 for C now (21), 4 for D now (28) and 5 for the age D will be when C is D's age now (35).
Time for another drink?
Fibonacci
September 11th, 2008 4:11pm Report this commentSalieri, I rate your maths as highly as your music. Maybe it was the more than 1 glass of wine last night that made me think could not be sure C=3/4D but maybe I'm looking for too much natural symmetry (agree D+1/2D +C= 63).
BTW who's Dan Brown? If he's published anything good would surely have heard of him.
Kevin the Gerbil
September 11th, 2008 5:30pm Report this commentQ9 is insoluble unless we assume constant work rates. My method was to choose a number of peas with a lot of divisors, say 1200. Assume that that is the number David and Gordon shell in two hours. Therefore G&N shell … in two hours; N&D shell … in two hours. Solve simultaneously to find the work rate of each one (over two hours). Sum to get total peas shelled in two hours … etc. The answer is a not terribly neat fraction.
Agree with previous posts that this bears more resemblance to a 1940s O-Level (school certificate) rather than having anything to do with mathematical insight. A finite number of monkeys could eventually manage it.
salieri
September 11th, 2008 10:10pm Report this commentFibonacci:
Ouch!
(x 2)
occasional ranter
September 11th, 2008 11:42pm Report this commentQ.9 : work rate of....D + G = 6 jobs per 12 hours, G + N = 4 jobs per 12 hours, N + D = 3 jobs per 12 hours, add those together and we see the work rate of 2(D + G + N) = (6+4+3)/12 jobs per hour, so 1 job takes the 3 of them 24/13 hours.
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