Worst. Exam Question. Ever.

[Biftheunderstudy]

To a particle physicist, that building is cosmological scale.

 

[silverpig]

really? So if I pushed you off a 4 story building, gravity wouldnt matter?
hmmmmmm?

Gravity is weaker than all other forces by many orders of magnitude. It only dominates when other forces cancel each other out, or when there is a cosmological amount of matter in a small space.

In the context of the thread and the original question posted, gravity doesn't matter.

The planck length is ~10^-42 m. The size of the observable universe is ~10^26 m. The midpoint of those scales is ~10^-8 m (about the size of an atom).

A 4 story fall is ~10m. This is 9 orders of magnitude into the "big stuff" side of the universe. In the grand scheme of things, people are governed by the same type of physics that stars and planets and galaxies are, and have little in common with the "majority" of the universe. The main force we experience is gravity. Same with planets and stars. Atoms are mostly about the other three forces. We are quite cosmological in scale

 

[crashtestdummy]

I'm going for part marks on this one

Kinda neat that it can be all written out like that though. Sans gravity of course. Stupid gravity. Maybe you should just draw a little down arrow after it all to say you added gravity

I don't like the question because it really focuses on equation recall. Basically, what he's asking is, can you pick out all the physical laws written on that page? There's no way you'd ever have enough time to derive them all, or even spend more than a minute or two thinking about them, so it's a matter of can your recall the specific forms. Not the way physics should be taught, really.

Wait, I just realized that this is homework, not a test question. It's not as horrible then, but not really a productive use of time, either.

 

[silverpig]

I don't like the question because it really focuses on equation recall. Basically, what he's asking is, can you pick out all the physical laws written on that page? There's no way you'd ever have enough time to derive them all, or even spend more than a minute or two thinking about them, so it's a matter of can your recall the specific forms. Not the way physics should be taught, really.

Wait, I just realized that this is homework, not a test question. It's not as horrible then, but not really a productive use of time, either.

It's all just kind of a joke anyways.

 

[Corporate Thug]

I dont get it...

 

[alkemyst]

http://two-sheds.blogspot.com/2006/09/vacuuming-nightmare.html

 

[EarthwormJim]

really? So if I pushed you off a 4 story building, gravity wouldnt matter?
hmmmmmm?

It really wouldn't next to the Electromagnetic force that stops you when you hit the ground

 

[ImpulsE69]

If you take the 15th character of every 7th line then unscramble it you find the following hidden message:

"Sci3nCe Is Bu1lsHiT dR0p OuT 0f sCh0ol d0 dRugS"

 

[silverpig]

if you take the 15th character of every 7th line then unscramble it you find the following hidden message:

"sci3nce is bu1lshit dr0p out 0f sch0ol d0 drugs"

the universe speaks!

 

[Fayd]

i just had a quiz question:

find the arc length of the curve on interval [0,6]

curve = r(t) = < (1/2(t)^2 - 3) , (t^2 + 2) , (ln(t^2 + 1)) >

bonus points if you find an answer.

 

[TecHNooB]

i just had a quiz question:

find the arc length of the curve on interval [0,6]

curve = r(t) = < (1/2(t)^2 - 3) , (t^2 + 2) , (ln(t^2 + 1)) >

bonus points if you find an answer.

couldnt do the integral by hand :|

 

[Fayd]

couldnt do the integral by hand :|

afaik, it's impossible to integrate without either a comprehensive list of integrals, or a computer.

I struggled over the problem for about an hour, before running out of time and giving up.

as i walked out, i realized i could have just used Simpson's rule and approximated an answer. doh.

 

[Hacp]

afaik, it's impossible to integrate without either a comprehensive list of integrals, or a computer.

I struggled over the problem for about an hour, before running out of time and giving up.

as i walked out, i realized i could have just used Simpson's rule and approximated an answer. doh.

You did have a graphing calculator right?

 

[Fayd]

You did have a graphing calculator right?

It is allowed but I don't have one...

 

[TecHNooB]

It is allowed but I don't have one...

that's the most tragic thing i ever heard :'(

 

[alkemyst]

It is allowed but I don't have one...

why?

 

[996GT2]

It is allowed but I don't have one...

TI-89 will get you through all of those hard integrals. That thing was a godsend when I took AP Calculus BC and then multivariable calc back in high school.

 

[alkemyst]

TI-89 will get you through all of those hard integrals. That thing was a godsend when I took AP Calculus BC and then multivariable calc back in high school.

There are cheaper options. Most students don't use that calc to it's full potential anyway.

 

[Fayd]

why?

can't find my or my brother's TI-83's.

i'm thinking about buying a graphing calculator now, though. price isn't a huge object, but i am looking to get just one that will serve me for the rest of my calculator-needing days.

i was looking at the TI Nspire CX CAS... 3d graphing, backlit color screen...

emailed my teacher to ask if it'd be allowed. lol.

for reference: this is calc 3. this is the last of the calc i need to take. my next intended classes are diffeq and something that counts as a "calculus based statistics course", then of course all the classes required for a master's in statistics.

i should probably note that the above question i mentioned, the teacher acknowledged was a screwup on his part. thus he gave anyone who set up the integral, whether or not they solved it, full credit. apparently 2 people decided to drop from the class the night of that quiz, thinking either the class was really hard or they weren't equipped to handle it. haha.

 

[alkemyst]

can't find my or my brother's TI-83's.

i'm thinking about buying a graphing calculator now, though. price isn't a huge object, but i am looking to get just one that will serve me for the rest of my calculator-needing days.

i was looking at the TI Nspire CX CAS... 3d graphing, backlit color screen...

emailed my teacher to ask if it'd be allowed. lol.

for reference: this is calc 3. this is the last of the calc i need to take. my next intended classes are diffeq and something that counts as a "calculus based statistics course", then of course all the classes required for a master's in statistics.

i should probably note that the above question i mentioned, the teacher acknowledged was a screwup on his part. thus he gave anyone who set up the integral, whether or not they solved it, full credit. apparently 2 people decided to drop from the class the night of that quiz, thinking either the class was really hard or they weren't equipped to handle it. haha.

so basically a math major without a college-allowed calculator in 2011.

additionally, your first quiz/test in any class worth taking is usually the low water mark.

Not everyone is a genius, but neither are most that graduate.

 

[DrPizza]

afaik, it's impossible to integrate without either a comprehensive list of integrals, or a computer.

I struggled over the problem for about an hour, before running out of time and giving up.

as i walked out, i realized i could have just used Simpson's rule and approximated an answer. doh.

Weird, I thought I responded to this last night. Anyway, it's not a tremendously difficult integral; just tedious. Table of integrals not needed.
First: arclength formula
Then: trig substitution
Then: integration by parts (else, you can use a reduction formula, if you wasted your memory memorizing one.)
Then: u-substitution
Then: magic (multiply by (secx+tanx)/(secx+tanx) or something like that)
Then: obvious how to finish.

I slide a similar problem into the middle of my Calc I final exam each year. I look at that problem first. If the student gets it perfect, I just give them a 100&#37; for the final exam grade - they deserved it. Otherwise, if they at least get through the trig substitution, I give them 9 out of 10 points (on a 400 point final exam, it's a 10 point question.)

 

[Jaepheth]

I always found integral entry on graphing calculators to be too finicky to bother with. 2 years into my math degree I stopped using a graphing calculator all together and just got a solar powered scientific calculator to save money on batteries.

As a joke, I used to take an abacus to some exams that I knew wouldn't be calculation intensive.

As for OP; you could just interpret the question to be trivial (and get marked wrong for it)
"Sure, you CAN write it like that. It may be wrong though, but that's not what you're asking."

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Oh my God... that link just brings back bad memories multiplied by 100.

 

[Leros]

I do remember one particle physics midterm our prof marked very quickly.

"I wasn't planning on having your exams marked so soon, but you guys made it easy on me because so many of you left entire pages completely blank."

I think I got 23% on that one.

Sounds like one of those classes where you check your grade online, see you got a 23%, consider dropping the class, and then later learn that you made the highest grade or one of the highest grades in the class.

 

[Fayd]

Weird, I thought I responded to this last night. Anyway, it's not a tremendously difficult integral; just tedious. Table of integrals not needed.
First: arclength formula
Then: trig substitution
Then: integration by parts (else, you can use a reduction formula, if you wasted your memory memorizing one.)
Then: u-substitution
Then: magic (multiply by (secx+tanx)/(secx+tanx) or something like that)
Then: obvious how to finish.

I slide a similar problem into the middle of my Calc I final exam each year. I look at that problem first. If the student gets it perfect, I just give them a 100% for the final exam grade - they deserved it. Otherwise, if they at least get through the trig substitution, I give them 9 out of 10 points (on a 400 point final exam, it's a 10 point question.)

i get to integral { sqrt [ (5t^2) + (4t^2)/(2t^2+1) ] dt }

i'll take another look at this when i get back from soccer, but i swear i tried trig-sub in class and didn't get far. it's the fact that there's nothing outside the sqrt that makes it a bitch.