A Math Test For The Candidates

[Brown]

John Allen Paulos proposes a math quiz for presidential candidates.

I will say that, on the "reasoning" part, in which computation or mathematical reasoning was involved, I did very well. In fact, I answered all of these questions correctly. I used a calculator for some of the computation, but I tried to solve as many of the problems in my head as I could.

On the parts that required one to know numbers (as opposed to reasoning or computing, e.g., knowing how many Americans die each year from heart disease or knowing the gross domestic product of the USA), I did less well, but my estimates were usually within one order of magnitude of the "correct" answers.

Because every presidential candidate, including our sitting president, is fond of slinging around figures and statistics, I do not think it would be unreasonable to probe into whether the candidate really understands the mathematics.

 

[El Greco]

This reminds me of the idiotic questions that Greek reporters were asking candidates in the previous elections, like:

"How much does 1 kilo of zucchinis cost ?"
"How much does a bus ticket cost ?"
"How much does a bottle of fatfree milk cost ?"

Strangely, they never asked questions like "How much does a double bourbon cost in an average bar ?"

As we're having elections in one month, we will certainly experience more of this fascinating proletarianity check

 

[T'ai Chi]

Paulos rulez.

Paulos for president!

 

[CFLarsen]

Re: Re: A Math Test For The Candidates

Paulos rulez.

Paulos for president!

Think you could pass?

Cuz you ain't doing so great in Stat 101....

 

[boooeee]

Picking a nit....

Isn't this question defective:

6. In Disproportia, a small Midwestern town, the average tax cut per household is $2,200, but the median tax cut is $150. What does this say about the distribution of taxable incomes in the town? If the founder of a high-tech company were to move into the community, which is more likely to rise, the mean or the median tax cut?

His given answer seems to assume that a tax cut will always be proportional to taxable income. While you could say that it is reasonable that your actual tax will be proportional to taxable income, the same doesn't follow for a tax cut. For example, you could give a tax cut of $5,000 to people with less than $50,000 in income, and a tax cut of $1,000 to to people with more than $50,000.

 

[T'ai Chi]

Re: Re: Re: A Math Test For The Candidates

Think you could pass?

Cuz you ain't doing so great in Stat 101....

Yeah, I think I can pass as I have two degrees in that area.

You fail to intimidate or impress in your sidetracking of the thread. You've so far contributed nothing mathematical or statistical in the thread on statistics, so I don't currently highly value your opinions at all on the issues.

Yawn.

 

[CFLarsen]

Re: Re: Re: Re: A Math Test For The Candidates

Yeah, I think I can pass as I have two degrees in that area.

You fail to intimidate or impress in your sidetracking of the thread. You've so far contributed nothing mathematical or statistical in the thread on statistics, so I don't currently highly value your opinions at all on the issues.

Yawn.

Oh, I leave that to the experts.

A university professor and a strip club bouncer. Certainly not you.

 

[Ladewig]

boooeee
Picking a nit....

Isn't this question defective:

6. In Disproportia, a small Midwestern town, the average tax cut per household is $2,200, but the median tax cut is $150. What does this say about the distribution of taxable incomes in the town? If the founder of a high-tech company were to move into the community, which is more likely to rise, the mean or the median tax cut?

I consider it defective because it assumes that the founder of a high-tech company has a large income. If the company is just starting up, then the founder may not be drawing a salary because money is too tight. Furthermore, given the dot-com bust, I can find scores of high-tech company founders who have very little income.

One must be precise when constructing a math quiz. (or should it be: 1.000 must be precise when constructing a math quiz.)

On the whole I liked it and did rather well (assuming I get full credit for answering number 8 by saying 17,000 minutes and 17,000,000 minutes).

 

[xouper]

Ladewig: One must be precise when constructing a math quiz. (or should it be: 1.000 must be precise when constructing a math quiz.)

I think he was sufficiently precise in expressing that question. Whether he was sufficiently accurate is perhaps another matter.

[/chain-yanking]

If anything, this example shows how difficult it can be to construct good test questions.

 

[T'ai Chi]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A Math Test For The Candidates

Oh, I leave that to the experts.

A university professor and a strip club bouncer. Certainly not you.

Yawn.