Monday, October 22, 2007

Nothing gets me more miffed than imprecise use of the English language in a Mathematics question. Being your typical grammar Nazi, I just have to spend five minutes trying to ponder it's inanity, which puts me at a disadvantage compared to my linguistically deficient peers. How ironic, and mean of me! Yikes, milk and cookies all around.

Well then, Exhibit A is this question from this year's seemingly infamous PSLE Mathematics paper.

"6/14 of the chairs in a hall are in rows of 13. half of the chairs are in rows of 7. There are 122 more chairs* in rows of 7. The rest of the chairs are stacked up. Find the total number of chairs."

*This is the metaphorical nail in the coffin, gentlemen. 122 more than what? The chairs in rows of 13? The chairs stacked up? Bugger all this! Oh well, I take it to be 122 more chairs in rows of 7, than in rows of 13.

On to solving the question. Since there are 122 more chairs in rows of 7, and 1/14 more chairs in rows of 7, that means 14/14 equals to 1708.

Voila! Well then, our answer. That wasn't too bad, of course this is assuming my interpretation is correct. Let us hope that I don't come across any such atrocities in my A level papers next week.

Yes, I have witnessed such poorly designed questions all across the scholarly spectrum, from Primary schools all the way to Junior Colleges.

Don't let my tone fool you into thinking this is a laughing matter. This costs me real marks due to time spent hacking through the jungle of vagaries and implied implications.

So then, might there be any others that share my plight? Do tell me!

Linguistically yours.