I can't believe not one of a thousand parents could get this right??????

ThePrisoner said:
To expand a quadratic expression of the form (2x+6)(x+11) you multiply
First two : 2x * x = 2x squared
Outside two: 2x * 11 = 22x
Inside two: 6 * x = 6x
Last two: 6 * 11 = 66

So the original expression expands to be: 2x squared + 22x + 6x + 66

How the hell do you do superscript in these posts?
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You see, that's part of the problem, introducing new 'rules' like that that people think they have to remember when they really don't.
 
If Sunak gets his way and we all study maths until the age of 18 will we then have the power to remember it years down the line, or will we have just delayed our forgetting by two years? And if so, would we not have been better advised to spend two years studying something that interested us instead?
 
clay said:
It's less about knowing the answer, and more about knowing how to break down a problem.

That question starts with an irregular shape and missing information. Some people may just throw their hands up, say they can't do it because they've never seen it before and give up. But by breaking the problem down, you can turn the irregular shape into regular ones a deduce the info that's missing.

They are life skills most adults use every day, in situations that have nothing to do with geometry or algebra. Most of us do things every day we've never done before, by breaking problems down into bite-sized chunks. When I've supported people who struggle with basic tasks, often it's because they treat them in the same way as the people who can't do this puzzle: e.g. "I can't go for that job interview because I don't know how to get there on public transport, so I give up"
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If it was just about an irregular shape and missing information I'd agree. But then I think most people would be able to answer it in that instance no problem.

The hard part is that the fairly straight forward question is asked in a "language" most people don't know or have forgotten.

You can go on all you like about how people just need to break down the problem or approach it logically etc but if the question is asked in Arabic most aren't going to be able to answer it regardless of how simple it is.
 
I started so positively having not done this type of maths since I left school 23 years ago & then ran into trouble when I didn’t find what A =

I’m not meant to be trying to find A am I? 🤦🏻‍♂️😂
 
ThePrisoner said:
To expand a quadratic expression of the form (2x+6)(x+11) you multiply
First two : 2x * x = 2x squared
Outside two: 2x * 11 = 22x
Inside two: 6 * x = 6x
Last two: 6 * 11 = 66

So the original expression expands to be: 2x squared + 22x + 6x + 66

How the hell do you do superscript in these posts?
Click to expand...
It's reasonably commonplace to use the caret (^) symbol for exponentiation, e.g 2x cubed= 2x^3, though possibly not on a footy board.
 
lostinyorkshire said:
At some point you realise as an adult what was the point of this type of education. Unless your going to be a carpet fitter or builder.
Why didnt we learn about mortgages, pensions, financial markets etc.
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Because TPTB don't want the masses to be informed on such things. I'll bet 90% of people don't even know how their mortgage payments are calculated.
 
SmogonOuseburn said:
I agree with OP. I cannot believe that no parent in 1000 could get the answer correct. It’s just calculating the area of two rectangles and adding them together.
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But that's entirely the point quite a few people have already made.

I don't believe that 1000 parents can't do it. The clickbait title is hiding a huge swathe of information.

When and where was the question asked. Who were the people asked. How long were they given to digest the question and attempt an answer etc.

I'd guess 50% of adults would just tell the questioner where to go without even looking at the problem. The rest were probably busy with real-life problems when they had this thrust in their faces.

Given an hour or so to freshen up on the logic I'd be fairly confident I could solve a dozen of these in short order. Much the same as my current job (software) requires me to learn and re-learn regularly because you can't have everything memorised - most brains don't work like that. Even well assimilated information can be lost over time if it isn't called on.
 
lostinyorkshire said:
At some point you realise as an adult what was the point of this type of education. Unless your going to be a carpet fitter or builder.
Why didnt we learn about mortgages, pensions, financial markets etc.
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This is the bit of advice I gave to my nephews.... Get pension, get a mortgage! I'm 51 now and mortgage free and could seriously retire at 55... but mentally I am still screwed :D
I was lucky with the pension and screwed over with the endowment I was paying 8.99%, but kept it on, just in case... it paid off and more.
 
Linny said:
I think it shows how much people use algebra after leaving school. I haven’t and it didn’t mean much to me.

Most parents probably haven’t solved an equation like that for 20 or 30 years.

That said, with a bit of a refresher, most could probably grasp it. It just needs a bit of understanding and using some logic.
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I remember at school learning calculus and telling my teacher it was pointless I was never gonna use it. Fast forward a few years working at ici and I was using it daily. Its a funny old world.
 
sambaDTR said:
Total team playing is 11x - yx + zx (where x represents a football player, y equals the number sent off and z equals the number of subs).
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It's funny but it's not right nor has it been simplified. 11 - minsentoff/90{y}/y + z where curly braces represents the sum over symbol which I can't find on my phone.

Or maybe I am talking crap.
 
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