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

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Troublesome Lagomorph

The Deadliest Bunny
May 26, 2009
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I'm good with most subject but fail math.
I'd probably get that wrong. Plus, I'm going for a history major and do not plan on using crap like that.
 
Sep 13, 2009
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Ummm... to do FOIL wouldn't you have to have another part of the equation set next to it in parentheses? like so: (x+3)(3-5)? Or something to that degree? I suppose to expand that you could end up with this:

X^2+9
 

maninahat

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Nov 8, 2007
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Wow, I didn't remember how to do any of this until I looked at other people's answers. And I'm an MA student (in Literature). But then I guess if he had asked us about expanding and simplifying, I would have at least understood the question (We never called it "FOIL" in my day - we used something called BODMAS instead).
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
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Not everyone is into math. Notice the vast array of programs in college. If you're not going to use something in the future (which most people won't be using anything but basic math), you forget it. There are better things for you to be angered and saddened by, friend.

By the way:
(x + 3) * (x + 3) = x^2 + 6x + 9
I haven't seen the symbols written out like that in a long time (probably eight years), I had to be reminded what the "^" was.

Edit: I just remembered what FOIL means. Haha, I used to write that down at the beginning of tests so I wouldn't forget. Math was hard to me in middle school, then got really easy in high school. Now I forgot most of it, except for statistics that I used in my research class.
 

Yamiki

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Apr 10, 2009
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Cmon that's easy,
(x + y) (x1 + y1) =
x*x1 + x*y1 + y*x1 + x1*y1 =
x^2 + ((x*y1)+(y*x1)) + y^2:
so x^2 + 6x + 9
 

mcgroobber

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Jan 3, 2010
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BonsaiK said:
buggy65 said:
This is Algebra I stuff. It is taught in High School!
Yeah but I'm 35. I forgot all that crap nearly 20 years ago because it's not used in the field that I now work in. My brain keeps the useful knowledge and discards the other stuff.
yes thats exactly why the game show are you smarter than a fifth grader exist, its because the questions that they ask are useless and no adult hardly remembers them because they dont need to, lots of things taught at school are useless,
 

deus-ex-machina

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Jan 22, 2010
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51gunner said:
To the people answering "I don't need this kind of math".

You don't need ALGEBRA? Bullshit. What part of that (x+3)^2 do you not need to know? The multiplication, or the addition? I'd be more lenient if it was geometry or trigonometry, but basic Algebra should not be a skill forgotten so quickly.

Handling money in any form takes that much math. God help you if that's beyond your abilities.
Seriously buddy. When do £5 notes need brackets and in what miracle of a situation does cash multiply by itself, at a factor and add together in one instance in every day life? If you have such a bank that offers you INTEREST at such a rate, let me know. Money is basic mental arithmatic. Add, subtract, divide, multiply. I earn, I spend, I invest, but never has a fiver presented itself in such a way that it confuses me with brackets.

To FORGET something you did many years ago is not a problem in my opinion. To forget means you haven't needed it for some time. It means someone else has done it for you. That does not take away your ability to live life at a high standard. If you didn't comprehend the equation to begin with, I could understand the issue, but I would have been in that 40%. I'm happy with life.

Congrats to the 15-16 year olds who are currently studying it. If YOU didn't know how to complete such problems, you belong in the bottom set and enjoy the hellish uphill struggle of becoming a McDonald's store supervisor. I did a Maths and Statistics GCSE a year early. I didn't do it at A-level because it goes beyond the needs of the every day person. Excel and SPSS do complicated statistical tests for you and if you can't do it in your head, there is a calculator.

Thinking a simple equation and solving it relates to your intelligence is relative.

Knowing how nitric oxide synthase can generate NO and react with a superoxide ion, resulting in peroxynitrite and delivering serious oxidative stress within a microsystem - causing disease like symptoms overall is also relative. I'd like to see those of you who have solved the equation write a 3000 word summary on the issue within a couple of hours without plagarising wikipedia and websites.

I can do it.

Intelligence is all relative to your studies. Don't think those who can't do a simple equation are idiots just because they haven't come across it in years. They'll embarrass you in other ways.
 

Eggsnham

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Apr 29, 2009
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Yeah.. I'm in High School Geometry (and failing, with a 28 :D). So I doubt this applies to me, but this question seems like a very complicated question that could be easy to get wrong.

EDIT: Oh. It's basic Algebra. Well, I guess that qualifies me for "Special" Math classes. Not that my 28% average didn't already tip me off.
 

Burningsok

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Jul 23, 2009
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Magic Hobo said:
(x+3)(x+3)
x^2+6x+9
If I'm wrong, I call being not good at math in the first place, and being in tenth grade.
EDIT: Yay I got it right!
By golly I think you've got it!!
 

Gavmando

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Feb 3, 2009
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Meh. I make more money than most people who have gone to college, and I dont need maths to drive a train. Plus, I dont have to bring work home, and i'm legally not allowed to work more than 8'-33".
I have no stress, and the best job in the world.
 

Kortney

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Nov 2, 2009
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Oh, how humerus! Let us all laugh at these horribly undereducated 40% *pompous laughter* hahahahhaaha.

Ever think that the course they are doing doesn't involve FOIL, or any sort of maths? Ever think that mathematics isn't one of their interests, so they forgot how to do FOIL? Unless you smug assholes can remember everything you were taught in high school in every subject, shut up.

--

And for the record, yes I know FOIL. I am still in high school and I had to use it the last time I was at school for a question.