40% of College Students get this question wrong. AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY!

[Zepren]

Haha, that's well easy. I knew the answer and i'm a high school dropout (going college at end of year though )

 

[_Serendipity_]

As a mathematician I am saddened that you accept this bizarre 40% result without question, how useful that it's a round number and there are no details let alone discussion of test bias and so on.

In any case, as I have a mathematics degree I would not be surprised that people get it wrong because most people are busy learning other things relevant to their subject. Moreover, it's not that they CAN'T do it, once you tell them they will remember and generally be able to do it easily.

Also, it's mathematics, not math, I have no idea why the short omits the 's' at the end either.

This is the best response.

Indeed, where are your references? In academic circles, a failure to reference is infinitely more heinous than... well, pretty-much anything short of murder and child-molestation.

 

[Xcelsior]

It maybe the case that you need to pass all these exams to get into college/uni, but keep in mind not everyone chooses to do something that has anything to do with maths.

Spoiler

X^2+6X+9

 

[DrButtocks]

There really isn't much excuse for getting that wrong. I'm an arts graduate, old, and don't know what FOIL stands for (we don't need silly mnemonics to perform simple mathematical operations in Australian schools), and still managed to get it

Spoiler

x^2+6x+9

 

[Proteus214]

Hello accelerated 8th grade algebra.

Spoiler

x^2 + 6x + 9

 

[Beefjerky]

(x+3)^2
(x+3)(x+3)=x^2 + 6x + 9

I think it's like that. I'm utter shite at math :<

 

[mip0]

Spoiler: answer and method

(x+3)[sup]2[/sup] = x[sup]2[/sup]+6x+9 method: (a+b)[sup]2[/sup] = a[sup]2[/sup]+2ab+b[sup]2[/sup]

 

[rainman2203]

If you hadn't said foil I would have probably forgotten how to do it. I got it right but I can't help but feel that it doesn't really matter if most people can't do such a problem. As long as someone (in this case the OP) can do it that our satellites stay up in orbit and things work as they should. I sure as hell don't need proficiency with quadratic equations when I'm working on 990's or reading manuscripts (which is what my major entails)- OR WHEN I'M DOING ANYTHING ELSE EVER.

I am damn happy to be done taking math (finished with college calc and stats) but I'm glad someone cares about it- plus why do you care OP? You will make a good chunk of money with a math major.

 

[Abedeus]

Really? I just had a maths test, most of the people forgot that (X-2)^2 = X^2 -4X + 4. And they just wrote X^2 - 4.

I also had no idea what FOIL means.

 

[Saul B]

x^2+6x+9. And I'm only 15.

 

[vallorn]

Ha! Binomials!

We did Polynomial factors in High School...

its not binomials. its quadratics.

 

[Luke5515]

Spoiler

(x^2+6x+9)

 

[Sephychu]

Wait. What?

College students fail at bracket expansion? Fucking hell.
No, it isn't a life skill, but it's bloody easy, and everyone is taught how to do it.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

Fair enough getting something as simple as this wrong should be rather embarrasing, but seriously, who cares? I'm currently studying LLB Law, when am I ever going to need this?

I've witheld posting the answer in a spoiler because it wastes my time and proves nothing considering i could now just copy + paste any of the answers above. However I do know how to do this, but only due to knowledge randomly retained, I have never and will never intentionally retain how to do things like this as it's not important in the area i wish to work in... so still failing to see the relevance of why you think this is so greatly important.

 

[Plank of Wood]

OP: You are aware that's just a quadratic? If someone shoved a random bracket of numbers yelling FOIL FOIL then of course I'd get it wrong. If you had said "Expand this" or "Expand this Quadratic" then I would have gotten it right.

 

[CloakedOne]

Well, I wasn't sure what FOIL means, as I usually refer to it as "expanding" or some variation thereof, but I did know the answer.

Edit: Also, there are a lot of people who study fake majors (like Art, Music, etc), and they don't tend, or need, much in the way of math classes so it's somewhat understandable. Depressing, but understandable.

"Fake?"
FAKE?

As an art major, I work my ass off. Ask anyone in the IRC; I'm always doing working. I'm here taking a break from doing art, then going back for more.

I'm sorry, but if you seriously think that the arts aren't real majors, you obviously know nothing about it.
If the OP gets to say that people not knowing foil makes him mad, then I am taking the liberty of saying that people insulting something they know nothing about makes me mad.


But yeah, first, inner, out, last. Makes me think of the fencing impliment. But isn't it more people not knowing PEMDAS?

I too am disgusted by someone who calls majors like "art, music,etc." fake because they aren't part of the hard sciences or innately practical. I am not an artist but I have friends that are and they work extremely hard (and far more hours) than anyone else I know. Art and Music and the like may not be as practical and as inherently useful as biology or math but there is a great deal of importance in the crafts of expression and human thought to be found in artistic pursuits. I still believe that the ultimate testaments to human accomplishment can be found in what we create and not just what we discover. Besides, math is just like art: it has value because we say it does. We made it up.

I learned about both FOIL (the first-last and the fencing implement) and PEMDAS. but you know what? I'm an English Major. I don't give a shit because I don't have to, I've never liked math. I got the problem wrong and I don't care, lol.

 

[serialver]

I do not remember having a ^ in anything I did at school so it confused me. Of course, I never use maths in History, which is odd.

 

[The_Splatterer]

It's alot easier if you expand it to (x+3)(x+3), then you multiply the x's, the 3 and the x's and the 3 with the three.
I do this for GCSE!

 

[johnman]

I use to able to do that, I got a B in my maths GCSE, but havent done for a few years and probly wont ever need to ever again.

 

[buggy65]

I'm assuming those who got it wrong are mostly art students where as this is a math question.

Hey, I took art, then went to college for two years in architecture, then switched and going 3 years in psychology. In no way has my education focused on maths... And I got it right.

...Ok, to be entirely fair, for some masochistic tendency I actually took "full" maths till the 12th grade... Why? Beats me. I hated the bloody thing... But I did...

@OP: It gets scarier... Check out how many English speaking high school and college students can't tell you the difference between "your" and "you're"; or "their", "there" and "they're"; or "it's" and "its"... etc. Yes, most people can't tell a contraction from a possessive...

I understand completely, I am an excellent writer and I always correct my friends when they say "Jane and me"...