----- Original Message ----- From: Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 7:23 PM Subject: Re: Vectors with scalar of zero
> "Ronn! Blankenship" wrote: > > > If You Think That's Bad You Should See Some Of The Stuff I Read In Freshman > > Math Test Papers Maru > > Can you give examples? Are these the sorts of things that would be > understood well enough to get laughs so you could contribute to one of > those books or websites that collects hillarious errors, or are they > more esoteric, hence more likely to find an understanding audience > *here* than in the segment of the population prone to buying such > books? (Note: I understand that the intersection of the two groups may > be non-empty, but I'm thinking in terms of "average" or "typical" in > each.) > > Julia > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > Unfortunately, most of them are less "funny" than the kind of thing which, if I were in a mood to be cruelly honest, I would use my red pen to write "Congratulations! You have once again managed to stump the professor with a newly invented system of mathematics!" E.g., from the most recent test, I saw the usual number of minus signs which disappeared into the ether between steps, terms which mysteriously migrated from the numerator to the denominator (or vice versa) without a corresponding change in the sign of the exponent, and "identities" such as (x�y)� = x��y�. --Ronn! :) I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
