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'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

bbc.com

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Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#21

Post by jasikpark »

jasikpark wrote: post #20
RubenSandwich wrote: post #4

It sounds like the old programming interview questions: "Why are sewer covers round?", etc. They sound like they promote critical thinking, but really they just confuse the applicants. If you want to know how someone thinks, ask them to solve a problem step by step.

i only know from learning about it, but round manhole covers prevent them from falling through the hole by consisting of a curve of constant width. Another example is the Reuleaux Triangle which is a viable shape for manhole covers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle

not exactly a great logic question

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#23

Post by Jare »

watwut wrote: post #9
RubenSandwich wrote: post #4

It sounds like the old programming interview questions: "Why are sewer covers round?", etc. They sound like they promote critical thinking, but really they just confuse the applicants. If you want to know how someone thinks, ask them to solve a problem step by step.

Asking them to solve a problem step by step is great to learn whether that person is good at explaining the solution step by step. It is not about internal thought process you use to come up with solution.

I strongly disagree. If that happens then the interviewer is not doing their job.

You don't ask the applicant to solve and then explain, you ask them to solve and think aloud while they do it. If this doesn't come naturally to the candidate, which is totally fine, you must ask questions, suggest doubts, propose alternatives or request clarifications to encourage thinking aloud.

If you realize the candidate already knew the solution and is in fact just explaining it, then you have failed to prepare a sufficiently interesting question, and must come up with another.

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#24

Post by mikeash »

jasikpark wrote: post #20
RubenSandwich wrote: post #4

It sounds like the old programming interview questions: "Why are sewer covers round?", etc. They sound like they promote critical thinking, but really they just confuse the applicants. If you want to know how someone thinks, ask them to solve a problem step by step.

i only know from learning about it, but round manhole covers prevent them from falling through the hole by consisting of a curve of constant width. Another example is the Reuleaux Triangle which is a viable shape for manhole covers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle

The problem I have with this question is that it’s based on false pretenses. Plenty of manhole covers are not round.

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#26

Post by bcaa7f3a8bbc »

ensignavenger wrote: post #5

Growing up in the US, we used to have questions like this on math exams. The correct answer is something to the effect of "Not enough information to solve this problem". Of course we had practice questions where that was the case before the exam, so it wasn't a surprise or anything... but it was standard practice.

I certainly sure that they've read something about this in the U.S, and they thought it would be a good idea to try the same thing. I'll bet it was a direct copy from the U.S.

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#27

Post by Harvey-Specter »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #16
Harvey-Specter wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Questions like "A ball is fired from a cannon at a 45 degree angle, how far from it's initial position does it land?" are also fairly common in Canada. I don't recall every being asked something this silly though. There's no formula to calculate the age of a ship captain based on his cargo. There's no 'missing piece' here.

Read the article - there are several clues, and bounds can be calculated.

I read the article. The question is stated to be

> "If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship's captain?"

What 'clue' did I miss? The only other information is some speculation from a Weibo commenter who thinks that 26 sheep + 10 goats = 7700kgs.

I supposed you could argue that these 5th grade students should know the minimum age required to have a commercial boat licence, but I couldn't tell you that answer for my country (and we don't know that this is a commercial ship, could just be someone taking his livestock for a jaunt around the lake).

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#28

Post by aje403 »

jerf wrote: post #18
Harvey-Specter wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Questions like "A ball is fired from a cannon at a 45 degree angle, how far from it's initial position does it land?" are also fairly common in Canada. I don't recall every being asked something this silly though. There's no formula to calculate the age of a ship captain based on his cargo. There's no 'missing piece' here.

"There's no formula to calculate the age of a ship captain based on his cargo. There's no 'missing piece' here." The lack of relevant relationship is the missing piece. Given how much nonsense I've personally witnessed as a math tutor or TA as students shove unrelated numbers through unrelated equations in unmotivated manners in an attempt to come up with some answer, any answer, I'd say it's not any worse a question…

Discovery of Jesus on french toast in mexico ignites local flames of monotheistic debate has caught the attention of the nation, and potentially, the entire planet

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#29

Post by mannykannot »

ensignavenger wrote: post #5

Growing up in the US, we used to have questions like this on math exams. The correct answer is something to the effect of "Not enough information to solve this problem". Of course we had practice questions where that was the case before the exam, so it wasn't a surprise or anything... but it was standard practice.

Then there are the questions that, at first sight, do not seem to have all the information, yet they do. Consider the one that opens this article:

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/NapkinRingVersusSphericalCap.h...

Re: 'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed

#30

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Harvey-Specter wrote: post #27
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the article - there are several clues, and bounds can be calculated.

I read the article. The question is stated to be > "If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship's captain?" What 'clue' did I miss? The only other information is some speculation from a Weibo commenter who thinks that 26 sheep + 10 goats = 7700kgs. I supposed you could argue that these 5th grade students should know the minimum age required to have a commercial boat licence, but I couldn't tell y…

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