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

[stok3r]

College is supposed to be a place of higher learning. To get into college you must also pass high school and a number of exams. Yet, based on a recent campus wide survey conducted at my school 40% of college students cannot FOIL. I am a math major and this saddens and angers me. So Escapist, I ask you:

FOIL: (x+3)^2
EDIT: FOIL also means Expand...

Please put your answers in spoiler tags so people can't cheat without actively looking. To do a spoiler tag you place [mathspoiler]{content}[/mathspoiler] but remove the "math" part.

Remember, 40 freakin' percent fail at this. Try not to be one of them.

The correct answer is

Spoiler

{x^2+6x+9}

I can honestly say its been 3 years since I've done maths at school and I got this right. Proud?

edit: oh, and I dropped out in year 11 and got like 79% in maths without trying (I actually completed my maths HSC (Higher School Certificate btw, pretty much if you have one, your not a failure of a human being) because my silly school made me do 2 of my subjects compressed (other was chem, 75-ish% without trying))

 

[villidan]

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.

exactly the same here. B in maths at GCSE but three years down the line that information is fairly useless to me. Hell I'm surprised 60% got it right considering how long ago it is since most people did maths.

Also never came across ^ in maths before.

 

[GBlair88]

Easy...

I suppose they could have, forgotten how to FOIL?
First..Outer...Inner...Last.
Still got it.

Ah, we called it BODMAS (Brackets, Outer, Divide, Multiply, Add, Subtract) at our school/in the UK.

Don't remember ever seeing this symbol ^ before, though in my defence it's been almost six years since I finished high school.

 

[KimberlyGoreHound]

Don't need FOIL for something that easy, for a square, it's just A^2+2AB+B^2, where A is x and B is the integer. 40% got that wrong? I find that hard to believe.

 

[stok3r]

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.

exactly the same here. B in maths at GCSE but three years down the line that information is fairly useless to me. Hell I'm surprised 60% got it right considering how long ago it is since most people did maths.

Also never came across ^ in maths before.

^ = ², you know, 3x3 is 3 squared

/basic knowledge

maths pretty much gives me an orgasm

 

[xxnightlawxx]

Spoiler: I Think This is Right

uhm (x+3)(x+3)

Forgot to combine. Woops.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

40%?
Holy freaking poop.
As a maths teacher, I'm pretty shocked by this, as I teach it to 11 year old children[footnote]Though as I teach in a grammar school for exceptionally bright kids, and they are working on an accelerated learning course, they'd probably learn it aged 12 or 13 in a normal school.[/footnote] who can get it right!

That said, expanding is hardly commonplace for most college students, and even fewer of those who do use it now, will use it in later life, I mean half of the stuff I have to teach the kids will likely never be used by most, and even then, some parts will only be used every couple of years, so you can't blame the college people for not remembering the things they don't think they'll actually use.

Ah, we called it BODMAS (Brackets, Outer, Divide, Multiply, Add, Subtract) at our school/in the UK.

Don't remember ever seeing this symbol ^ before, though in my defence it's been almost six years since I finished high school.

Aye, I teach that, though BIDMAS sounds fancier (The O changes to I for Indices)

And the "^" basically means "To the power of"

 

[Plank of Wood]

I think it's less to do with ignorance more to do with not giving much of a toss anymore about it.

 

[buggy65]

I thought I'd propose a bit of a harder one.

Express x[sup]2[/sup]+ 9 as the product of two binomial functions.
[Hint: There is no real answer]

It's already as simplified as it can be. It would have to be x[sup]2[/sup]- 9 to be factorable.

Incorrect, sir. You gave a real answer. Here's the actual answer for those who have given it a few goes.

Spoiler: Try it before looking

(x+3i)(x-3i)

Bahahaha! I salute you! =)

 

[soren7550]

I'm in high school still, so I guess that it's ok that I have no idea what the question even is. (then again, I've never been good at math)

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Spoiler

x^2+6x+9

1. Surveys are of as much scientific value as internet forums.

2. If the question was phrased just like that, perhaps it was because they didn't know "FOIL" is a mnemonic device to remember the steps to expand an expression. They might have thought "what plot is it attempting that I must unravel?"

3. Specific types of mathematics are not required for everything. Even in high-level mathematics; this is something you understand, but isn't something you have to work out manually. People learn it because they need the math credit, and then "dump" it when they are done. Much like you might do in an English or History class because it has no relevance to your primary field of study.

A business manager isn't going to need to expand an expression. If they ever do, they'll get a "math guy" in the company to do it for them. A programmer might need to know the expression, but it isn't something they'd use every day. An accountant or financial officer wouldn't really need to create an expression from scratch using expansion; their equations have been established already. Granted, they could modify it, but expand?

Is it handy to know? Sure, it certainly doesn't hurt. Is it absolutely necessary? No. Like you might ask in a PE class, "what does this have to do with what I'm going to do?". For a lot of people, there isn't going to be a time when they will need to know how to expand an expression. So they learn it, test it, dump it, and move on to the relevant parts of their studies.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Meh.

Not knowing algebra formulas does not indicate low intelligence.

I have a terrible short term memory, I can't retain all those formulas.

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Hmm... okay I get it now. I've really never seen it done outside of the (x+6)(x+6) form though. Guess it makes sense though.

 

[RejectWoW]

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"...

Well, did you correct them just for fun or because you wanted to point out that they were wrong?

 

[Jodah]

Not everyone goes into a field that needs to be able to do advanced math by hand. I am studying to be a lawyer, I haven't done any major math for four years. I could explain to you any legal case, or constitutional I'm not saying this is a really difficult question, if I looked up how to do it as a refresher I could probably get the answer but to expect everyone who is in college, simply because they are in college, to know the answer is going a bit far.

 

[titankore]

Woot I haven't done it in almost 4 years and I still got it right without any help!!!!
http://titankore.newgrounds.com/art/

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I'm in graphic design and video editing like classes and i don't see the importance of overly elaborate Math equations. All the math i need to know i learn in elementary school and that's Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Divison. i don't need to know the Pyhtagorean Theorem to edit video clips and use Adobe Illustrator and Quark Express.

 

[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"...

Well, did you correct them just for fun or because you wanted to point out that they were wrong?

I want to make them speak English properly. How are we supposed to be an intelligent civilization if we fail to speak our own language properly. Though my constant correcting some of them have stopped doing it, and some have even begun to correct others. Think of it as a "Pay it forward" scenario for English. =)

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Ugh... I hated foil...

Spoiler

(x+3)^2 = (x+3)(x+3)
So... x^2 + 6x + 9
Right?

FOIL: (x+3)^2
EDIT: FOIL also means Expand...[/spoiler]

Oh, my bad... expand it?
(x+3)^2
( x + 3 ) ^ 2

Like that?