The proof seems so obvious now.

Source: Abstruse Goose

It is no shocking news that the ability of children all across the country to perform lower level mathematics has been significantly dropping year after year. By lower level math I mean things like division with decimals, multiplication with exponents, scientific notation as well as basic geometry, algebra and trigonometry.

The test that I am going to attach below and hopefully something that you will all take just to see how much you simple math you still remember to be able to do. Out of the 13 problems on that exam, I had problems with (1e) for some unexplainable reason but I guess that is me being rusty. I did well there not to embarrass at least myself but it certainly would not surprise me if those people who have done little to no math since high school that they would struggle exam. It is not a trend that I like but it is only a matter of fact nowadays.

This was a test (UW – Math Test) was conducted by a professor at the University of Washington who teaches Atmospheric Sciences 101, which is supposedly a large lecture with a diverse population of students from different majors I would assume. The results that the professor got from the simple test were rather appalling due to the lack of abilities of the incoming freshmen year after year.

The professor went on to write:

The results were stunning, in a very depressing way. This was an easy test, including elementary and middle school math problems. And these are students attending a science class at the State’s flagship university–these should be the creme of the crop of our high school graduates with highGPAs. And yet most of them can’t do essential basic math–operations needed for even the most essential problem solving.

Consider these embarrassing statistics from the exam:

The overall grade was 58%

43% did not know the formula for the area of a circle
86% could not do a simple algebra problem (problem 4b)
75% could not do a simple scientific notation problem (1e)
52% could not deal with a negative exponent (2 to the -2)
43% could not do simple long division problem with no remainder!
47% did not know what a cosine was.

Take The Test Here: UW – Math Test

Answer Key (Take Test First!): UW – Math Test Answers

Here is the problem:

so here is a problem:

family of 4 – car
family of 4 – van
family of 3 – car
family of 5 – car

we’re going to end up parking one car at the airport since its only 15 minutes away.

what’s the best way to get everyone to the airport and be left with one car at the airport and all the other cars parked back at home?

XKCD as usual puts out another great comic today.

So I have been going Excel crazy recently by trying to compile stats, keep score and just record wins and losses over several seasons for teams. So I’m going to focus this for anyone who is some what resourceful with Excel and wants to help me out.

My dilemma is that I have a column that is counting the streak of the said team. For example, let’s say if the team wins 5 in a row, loses 2 in a row and then wins one… the column will say the following:

W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, L1, L2, W1

Now that is a relatively small scope of what i have. I have recorded data of over 130 games so far, and I am trying to figure out a way to automatically calculate what is the longest winning streak, losing streak, etc.

I can provide the Excel sheet if someone wants to give it a try. Any help or suggestions of further stats to determine from the given data would also be greatly appreciated. Just leave your email in the comments or contact me directly and I can send you the file.