Entrance math question to a Chinese university vs. American university.

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: linkgoron
The chinese question isn't very hard, and I could solve it a year ago when I was still in High School. 3D trig just looks hard. Maybe I can even solve it today if I sit on it a bit.
the second question I could solve in 5 minutes.

i: simple 3-4-5 right triangle, no need for pythagorean theorem. answer is 5
ii: (3x4)/2 = 6
iii: tan = opposite/adjacent, so 3/4.

took me about 30 seconds. mostly writing...

come on, we learn this in like 7th grade...

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron
The chinese question isn't very hard, and I could solve it a year ago when I was still in High School. 3D trig just looks hard. Maybe I can even solve it today if I sit on it a bit.
the second question I could solve in 5 minutes.

i: simple 3-4-5 right triangle, no need for pythagorean theorem. answer is 5
ii: (3x4)/2 = 6
iii: tan = opposite/adjacent, so 3/4.

took me about 30 seconds. mostly writing...

come on, we learn this in like 7th grade...

I didn't actually mean 5 minutes. I meant that it's very easy.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: linkgoron

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron
The chinese question isn't very hard, and I could solve it a year ago when I was still in High School. 3D trig just looks hard. Maybe I can even solve it today if I sit on it a bit.
the second question I could solve in 5 minutes.

i: simple 3-4-5 right triangle, no need for pythagorean theorem. answer is 5
ii: (3x4)/2 = 6
iii: tan = opposite/adjacent, so 3/4.

took me about 30 seconds. mostly writing...

come on, we learn this in like 7th grade...

I didn't actually mean 5 minutes. I meant that it's very easy.

the chinese one is also based off simple triangles with simple dimensions for a specific type of triangle.... i think it's a 30 degree, 60 degree, 90 degree right triangle.

edit: i messed up my thinking a little bit. either that, or something got lost in the translation.....

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron
The chinese question isn't very hard, and I could solve it a year ago when I was still in High School. 3D trig just looks hard. Maybe I can even solve it today if I sit on it a bit.
the second question I could solve in 5 minutes.

i: simple 3-4-5 right triangle, no need for pythagorean theorem. answer is 5
ii: (3x4)/2 = 6
iii: tan = opposite/adjacent, so 3/4.

took me about 30 seconds. mostly writing...

come on, we learn this in like 7th grade...

I didn't actually mean 5 minutes. I meant that it's very easy.

the chinese one is also based off simple triangles with simple dimensions for a specific type of triangle.... i think it's a 30 degree, 60 degree, 90 degree right triangle.

the chinese isn't hard at all, and I could probably solve it quite easily in highschool. But I can understand why people fear 3D trig.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: linkgoron

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: linkgoron
The chinese question isn't very hard, and I could solve it a year ago when I was still in High School. 3D trig just looks hard. Maybe I can even solve it today if I sit on it a bit.
the second question I could solve in 5 minutes.

i: simple 3-4-5 right triangle, no need for pythagorean theorem. answer is 5
ii: (3x4)/2 = 6
iii: tan = opposite/adjacent, so 3/4.

took me about 30 seconds. mostly writing...

come on, we learn this in like 7th grade...

I didn't actually mean 5 minutes. I meant that it's very easy.

the chinese one is also based off simple triangles with simple dimensions for a specific type of triangle.... i think it's a 30 degree, 60 degree, 90 degree right triangle.

the chinese isn't hard at all, and I could probably solve it quite easily in highschool. But I can understand why people fear 3D trig.

yeah... i'm 3 years out of high school, and an econ major.

****** trigonometry

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2
The answer is 43, jeez



Rogo

-1

 

[randumb]

The Chinese one isn't that hard, it's all basic trigonometric rules.

 

[CanOWorms]

In some countries when you enter high school, you enter a certain career track. In other countries, high school is about a general education and college is when you enter a specific career track. Maybe the British don't have specialized high school educations. I see advantages and disadvantages in both.

 

[Synomenon]

The other one is from a British Uni., not an American one.

 

[chuckywang]

Ok, ok. So people have indicated it's from a British university, not an American one....however, the British problem is comparable to an SAT math problem (might even be harder, cause trig is not covered in SAT math).

 

[fierydemise]

Junior in HS and I got the Chinese one pretty easily, although the English one hardly took any thought

 

[RallyMaster]

Doesn't matter what the comparison is. Chinese people have no creativity and no presentational skill. Find me one Chinese professional who came to the United States after living most of their lives in China and can stand up in front of a room, make proper eye contact with people, and articulate their words properly. I've seen my father talk. I've seen other Chinese parents. Every single one of them have never been given the opportunity to speak in front of a large group of people and you can tell. If Chinese math is so great, where the hell are their Nobel Prize winners? Chinese people are smart ONLY because they work hard. They are no different from a white American, an Indian or a Latin American in intellect.

 

[wetcat007]

Isn't there a really high demand for getting into college, with very few colleges available in china? I'm guessing they made it so that most people wouldn't be able to get in.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Doesn't matter what the comparison is. Chinese people have no creativity and no presentational skill. Find me one Chinese professional who came to the United States after living most of their lives in China and can stand up in front of a room, make proper eye contact with people, and articulate their words properly. I've seen my father talk. I've seen other Chinese parents. Every single one of them have never been given the opportunity to speak in front of a large group of people and you can tell. If Chinese math is so great, where the hell are their Nobel Prize winners? Chinese people are smart ONLY because they work hard. They are no different from a white American, an Indian or a Latin American in intellect.

:thumbsup:

I think most humans are at least capable of the same intellect, on average. It all just depends on education from there on, though.

And perhaps more importantly, access to information. Intelligent people seem to be able to process and understand raw information without needing it to be presented in different forms for understanding.

Being very general though.

 

[Matt2]

Holy crap.

My 9th grade geometry teacher always told me I'd use the pythagorean therom one day.

I told her she was nuts and she gave me a referral. Imagine that, she was right.

 

[NaOH]

chinese one is aight. the english one is ridiculously easy though. Shouldn't everyone at least know how to do this if they graduated from elementary =/

 

[Parasitic]

Different philsophy methinks.

My parents are Asian, and they said the fundamental difference between the Asian approach to education and the Western (American) approach is a matter of philosophy. From their views, they said that a traditional Chinese exam is designed to be mind-boggling and weed the weak, while American education uses exams to assess a student's ability and hopefully inspires one to go further than the simplest principle that's taught in classes.

 

[Mardeth]

So I checked and theres actually quite a similar question in this years high schools graduation exam, or whatever its called. We have a short and long math and this was for the long one, which I did. So I guess I at least should be able to solve the chinese and probably could if a few of my questions were answered.

For comparison, I took a few questions of that exam of different difficulty:

1. Solve 7x^2 - 6x = 0

2. What is the surface area between the lines x+y=1, x+y=6, x-3y=1, x-3y=-4.

3. n is a prime number and x and y are integers. Prove that x^n + y^n = (x+y)^n.

Note: it also says "(mod n)" but it could refer to a finnish word or concept that I dont know.

4. a>0, b>0 and 0<p<2. Prove that pab < a^2 + b^2.

So how do these compare in difficulty?

 

[paulney]

Originally posted by: Mardeth

3. n is a prime number and x and y are integers. Prove that x^n + y^n = (x+y)^n.

??
3 - prime number
2^3 + 3^3 = 8 + 27 = 35
(2 + 3)^ 3 = 125

am I missing something?

 

[Mardeth]

Excuse me. It was actually not = but = with a third line. As in:

-
-
-

Without the spaces.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

dunno what University that was for, but my maths test/entrance exam for mech eng at loughborough didnt have anything as easy as that. a 1st year secondary school kid (11-12year old) could do that.

 

[Juno]

yes you heard it right, we are idiots.

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: DainBramaged
But they all have small penors. USA wins again.

large penors + low education requirements = lots of stupid people

large penors + lots of women + low education requirements = lots of stupid guys with huge penors and lots of stupid girls

 

[LordMorpheus]

It illustrates a difference in the educational systems, not a general racial superiority.

Here's a fun game, ask a Chinese high school graduate history questions. Tiananmen square is just a large open area in the middle of Beijing where Mao's tomb is (I knew a girl at Nanjing Foreign Language school who didn't have a clue about this or anything else relating to Chinese history since the 1930s).

Besides, You can take a kid from algebra to multivariable calculus in two years if he isn't an idiot. There is a reason you see a ton of Chinese students in American universities and not the other way around.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
In some countries when you enter high school, you enter a certain career track. In other countries, high school is about a general education and college is when you enter a specific career track. Maybe the British don't have specialized high school educations. I see advantages and disadvantages in both.

you are right

we have primary school, secondary school, college, university

age wise thats. up to about 11, 11-16, 16-18, 18+

primary is all about the big 3.... english, maths, science...with a smattering of history, geography and religion

secondary continues the big 3 but then gets more specific with the sciences (physics,chem, bio) more humanities subjects like history, geography, religion,
english is expanded to litrature and language, you pick up french, german or both and depending on school you also can do design tech (woodwork, graphics design, IT etc)

its all very general though, it gives you a broad range of stuff, though shallow in depth unless your really bright at do seperate sciences instead of dual award. but it helps you find what you do an dont enjoy

college....your subjects drop from around 12-13 (secondary) to just 4 in the first year (5 if your insane) and in the second year that usually drops to 3 (ie you drop one subject and continue 3) less subjects but more indepth.....subjects get more advanced as you progress. but you can still have a varying range....(geography, maths, IT for instance)

theres alot of "easy options" at college as well such as sports, dance, drama, art, sociology, phsycology etc

University.... this is where it gets totally specific. 1 subject....for 3 + years.

heh i can do you a fourier series and 2nd order ODE's an stuff but i cant do that geometry one lol....its been so long since i did stuff like that, and i havent even used a calculator on this internship lol.

the lesson here really is " if you dont use it you lose it" i mean i know what i should be proving here.... gradient of one line is the negative reciprocal of the other, or that they have congruent adjecent angles..but theres too many lines on that diagram for me to see wtf is going on

and what does "and foot of perpendicular is E" mean, it just looks odd