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

[derelict]

This is Algebra I stuff. It is taught in High School!

This one is correct. FOIL method is from algebra, its taught in high school, and is generally useless in "real" math. Trig, Calculus and some others are actually USED in some real jobs, unlike most of algebra. Generally the long ridiculous process of math is basically to see if you're capable of absorbing things that are routinely used in physics, if you choose to go that high. Makes me wonder why they don't just hand you a calculator if you're heading for a career that doesn't use a lot of math skills. Guess they have to have *something* to fill all that grade school babysitting nonsense time.

Also, @WhiteTiger: There's some recent evidence to suggest autism isn't a "disease", therefore (as before) has no cure. Good deal of these kids learn quite easily, just in a nonstandard manner, and so far nobody's bothered to re-teach themselves how to teach others, or to get rid of the bigotry among educators i.e. "I am teaching you so I automatically know better" in a world where kids who are very, very intelligent are still forced to go through the motions in an educational system that's solely in it for the money. Yes, I have a HFA spectrum disorder, if you were curious.

 

[Shankity Stick]

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.

FOIL=First Outer Inner Last. its a numonic device used to multiply 2 binomials

 

[Simmo8591]

bleh horrible setting, if only the escapist used TeX or at least an equation editor.
on topic, very easy but then I have a maths degree, if i couldn't then id consider most of my higher education a bit of a waste

 

[Stooo]

This kind of stuff falls between the cracks in your memory if you don?t use it, and few people ever will in the real world.

I'm an IT Technical Architect for a large utility company and I?m on around £55k, I'll be honest unlike many and say I couldn?t answer this but I?m sure I could find many people who work in the company?s call centre fresh out of uni on 15k who could.

Expanding won?t help you earn, specific skills that are in demand will.

 

[TRR]

Yeah in what country are these colleges? Also does it include universities? cause im at UBC and if you cant answer that question then you essentially automatically fail every math class there is.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

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 suck hard at math, so I cannot say for certain, but...

Spoiler

Shouldn't the two pluses turn into a minus? This is how I got it:

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

As I said though, I suck at math, so I could have forgotten something.

But yeah, this is actually preety basic stuff. But the only reason I know it is beacuse I had to beat my head with it while failing math in secondary/high school. And once I am done with my remaining math exam I still have left over from high school, I hope to all heavens to never have to deal with it again for the rest of my days.

 

[Megacherv]

*before opening spoiler box*

Spoiler

x^2+6x+9

I'm doing A-level Maths and we've done waaaay harder stuff than that, like (2x+3)^5

*after opening spoiler box*
Of course I was correct. Try working out LOG 3^(2x+1) = LOG 7, that's even easier.

 

[fuckwit]

This is just too easy.

 

[dagens24]

As a graduate with a B.A. in Environmental Studies I can safetly and honestly say that math is fucking lame. Yes, yes, it's the foundation of everything and it's importance is so vast that our entire society depends of it, but, on the other hand, FUCK MATH! That's right, you heard me, I'm calling math out as a little punk *****. I challange math to a fight; Imma put a smack down on that punk ass math ***** ass. Fucking punk.

In conclusion, while math is fundamental to our way of life it is also a turd and I hate it. Thank you.

 

[Danman1]

We're doing this in maths class at the moment. Totally knew it. I feel smart now.

 

[I Fiend I]

hahahaha lol fail, im at uni right now and i swear I dont do shit. Whoever said its hard honestly i party and play games and still get good scores. This equation just proves Uni is pathetic, its not even high school, this is like grade 8 stuff.

 

[Megacherv]

This is Algebra I stuff. It is taught in High School!

This one is correct. FOIL method is from algebra, its taught in high school, and is generally useless in "real" math. Trig, Calculus and some others are actually USED in some real jobs, unlike most of algebra. Generally the long ridiculous process of math is basically to see if you're capable of absorbing things that are routinely used in physics, if you choose to go that high. Makes me wonder why they don't just hand you a calculator if you're heading for a career that doesn't use a lot of math skills. Guess they have to have *something* to fill all that grade school babysitting nonsense time.

Also, @WhiteTiger: There's some recent evidence to suggest autism isn't a "disease", therefore (as before) has no cure. Good deal of these kids learn quite easily, just in a nonstandard manner, and so far nobody's bothered to re-teach themselves how to teach others, or to get rid of the bigotry among educators i.e. "I am teaching you so I automatically know better" in a world where kids who are very, very intelligent are still forced to go through the motions in an educational system that's solely in it for the money. Yes, I have a HFA spectrum disorder, if you were curious.

The point of algebra I think is to help with your sense logic. All the time you're manipulating expressions and equations, this then becomes useful in, say, physics when you need to reverse an equation (e.g. something as simple as R=V/I, or as complicated as R=ρl/A), especially in mechanics (which is so fucking difficult at Advanced level, I can tell you that). It can also help, for instance, in programming. Programming itself is like a very complex form of algebra, with the variables and commands, similar to 'x', your powers, constants etc.

It will have a use, as in the UK have just A-level Maths (not even degree, just A-level) can open up so many job oppurtunities, and employers will definitely keep an eye on you if you have it.

 

[MR T3D]

as an engineering student, i have one comment:
fucking stupid artsies

 

[punkrocker27]

Sorry that not everyone had the same Algebra 1 teacher as you who thought they could revolutionize teaching with all their stupid new methods that are supposed to help kids remember but just end up convoluting this bullshit even further.

 

[dancinginfernal]

I'm a freshman, and I got this in less than a minute.

Don't hit me.

 

[Mana Fiend]

Just make it look like this (x+3) times (x+3) and it's VERY simple from there.

X times X is X squared

X times 3 is 3x

x times 3 is 3x (add them together and get 6x becuase you have 2 Xs and 2 3s)

3 times 3 = 9.

I actually failed my maths a-level on account of being a lazy essasy based douchebag
but even i get this stuff (fell down on logs, fucking logs)

Thank you. This is the method I was taught, where you draw lines between the things you have to multiply to create a sort of smiling face. I'm willing to admit, I couldn't get my head around the question with the ^2 involved...

I used to be good at algebra too, one of the best in my class.

Besides, I'm doing a degree in classical studies, so I have no need for algebra at the moment. I also plan to never join the military (pacifism for the win), so I won't be needing algebra in my day-to-day life.

 

[PhiMed]

And how will FOIL help me to understand the complexities of a simple organism such as a fruit fly, in order to find a way to cure, or even prevent autism?

My guess is you're not going to do that anyway, because if you were on a path to doing that, then you would know that in order to study genetics, you probably need to know some basic math.

 

[SquirrelPants]

I learned this a few years back, in seventh grade(I'm in tenth now.) It took me about 30 seconds to remember what FOILing was, but I got it right. I don't understand how people COULD get it wrong. It'd be more understanding if it were "reverse FOILing", which I believe is called Factoring, but this is just...wow.

 

[azncutthroat]

Being Asian, I'm automatically exempt from the 40% who get it wrong.

But, wow, really? 40% of students in your college? I could understand post-graduate students forgetting, but 40% must surely include under-grads.