n2-n-90=0

mac04 · Jun 6, 2015

SIMMO SAYS said:
So for all the brainy people that have solved the puzzle- will it buy you a better car/house/partner

Well, being able to do stuff like this enabled me to go to University, where I met lots of good looking intelligent women. I then got a well paid job as an accountant, which meant I could move back to Sussex and by a nice house.

So, yes.

The aloof gatekeeper · Jun 6, 2015

Simster said:
I actually think part b) was more difficult than part a).

I thought that was the easy bit. If something minus 90 is zero, then something is 90. So n² has to be bigger than nine, and the first number bigger than that is ten and that fits the puzzle (various clever-clogs have also pointed out that minus nine is a correct value for n, too).

Simster · Jun 6, 2015

The aloof gatekeeper said:
I thought that was the easy bit. If something minus 90 is zero, then something is 90. So n² has to be bigger than nine, and the first number bigger than that is ten and that fits the puzzle (various clever-clogs have also pointed out that minus nine is a correct value for n, too).

Yes but you'd get one mark for answering "ten" and about three for method. You need to break that formula down to prove n=?

sir albion · Jun 6, 2015

These are pointless when getting 99.9% of jobs....these are not goner crop up in future employment for most are they?

teaboy · Jun 6, 2015

sir albion said:
These are pointless when getting 99.9% of jobs....these are not goner crop up in future employment for most are they?

That could be said about most of the things you learn at school. However, learning to work things out in a logical manner and being able to follow a linear process is really important in life, and that's what this sort of exercise helps to teach. I don't need to read or write for my job - that doesn't prevent the skills from being important.

Kneon Light · Jun 6, 2015

Simster said:
Yes but you'd get one mark for answering "ten" and about three for method. You need to break that formula down to prove n=?

Correct. Question does not ask people to "solve" the equation but to "prove" it which is far harder.

All GCSEs have been harder this year. I expect they will continue to get harder for the next 2 years so that when the results of the new GCSEs come out for the first time in 2018 there will be increase in results and the government will point to what a success the new exams are.
Would be a political disaster if the new GCSEs had lower pass rates so exams are being manipulated now to make sure this doesn't happen.

Vegas Seagull · Jun 6, 2015

Kneon Light said:
Correct. Question does not ask people to "solve" the equation but to "prove" it which is far harder.

All GCSEs have been harder this year. I expect they will continue to get harder for the next 2 years so that when the results of the new GCSEs come out for the first time in 2018 there will be increase in results and the government will point to what a success the new exams are.
Would be a political disaster if the new GCSEs had lower pass rates so exams are being manipulated now to make sure this doesn't happen.

They are getting a new name as well, ref back to O levels, with a modern twist D (for Dave) levels

Vegas Seagull · Jun 6, 2015

sir albion said:
These are pointless when getting 99.9% of jobs....these are not goner crop up in future employment for most are they?

Arithmetic should be used by all, try German & RE exams and you'll find less use

Simster · Jun 6, 2015

sir albion said:
These are pointless when getting 99.9% of jobs....these are not goner crop up in future employment for most are they?

What a sad, idiotic comment. Sake.

SDG · Jun 6, 2015

mac04 said:
Well, being able to do stuff like this enabled me to go to University, where I met lots of good looking intelligent women. I then got a well paid job as an accountant, which meant I could move back to Sussex and by a nice house.

So, yes.

Yet somehow, you used the wrong version of the word "buy"...

Buzzer · Jun 6, 2015

Uh_huh_him said:
You and Buzzer were a couple of years below me then. She was my maths teacher in 83-84.
Yes she was a great teacher... I never got the hang of advanced maths though.

She was our maths teacher from 84 - 85 so only a year older. And I'd that just as this thread, Mac04 was always a few steps ahead of me.

Simster said:
I actually think part b) was more difficult than part a).

Nah. Solving the quadratic is just slotting the numbers in the formula x = -b ± √(b^2 - 4ac) / 2a. That's just a memory test, the clever bit is the first part.

mac04 said:
Well, being able to do stuff like this enabled me to go to University, where I met lots of good looking intelligent women. I then got a well paid job as an accountant, which meant I could move back to Sussex and by a nice house.

So, yes.

He's not wrong. I'm also an accountant and all thanks to skills learned at school.

Kneon Light said:
Correct. Question does not ask people to "solve" the equation but to "prove" it which is far harder.

All GCSEs have been harder this year. I expect they will continue to get harder for the next 2 years so that when the results of the new GCSEs come out for the first time in 2018 there will be increase in results and the government will point to what a success the new exams are.
Would be a political disaster if the new GCSEs had lower pass rates so exams are being manipulated now to make sure this doesn't happen.

This exam question has cheered me up no end, not only because it caught me and many others out and has made me reconsider my prejudices about exams being dumbed down. Hats off to the exam board.

Vegas Seagull said:
Arithmetic should be used by all, try German & RE exams and you'll find less use

Yup. Another very good post although I will add that my youngest is doing RE next year and the subject includes quite a large philosophical element to it with lots on ethics, morality and personal freedoms. All good stuff to help young minds develop so I think there's plenty of good things to take from it.

mac04 · Jun 6, 2015

SDG said:
Yet somehow, you used the wrong version of the word "buy"...

True. I was good at maths, not spelling, and predictive text didn't exist back in the 80's.

mac04 · Jun 6, 2015

Uh_huh_him said:
You and Buzzer were a couple of years below me then. She was my maths teacher in 83-84.
Yes she was a great teacher... I never got the hang of advanced maths though.

It helped that I had a bit of a crush on Mrs White, so I hung on her every word.

severnside gull · Jun 6, 2015

Vegas Seagull said:
They are getting a new name as well, ref back to O levels, with a modern twist D (for Dave) levels

Until he was shunted across to the Whip's Office last year it was said that GCSE stood for Gove Can't Spell Enything :lolol:

Herr Tubthumper · Jun 6, 2015

severnside gull said:
Until he was shunted across to the Whip's Office last year it was said that GCSE stood for Gove Can't Spell Enything

Maybe it's Gove's fetish with Rote learning which has resulted in swathes of kids being unable to apply some thinking and resolve this question?

severnside gull · Jun 6, 2015

Herr Tubthumper said:
Maybe it's Gove's fetish with Rote learning which has resulted in swathes of kids being unable to apply some thinking and resolve this question?

110%

Herr Tubthumper · Jun 6, 2015

Plooks said:
Well no. It is just a basic start point.

And I bet Sir Albion is the first to complain when the kiosk operators at the AMEX struggle with their sums.

Diablo · Jun 6, 2015

As everyone says N=10(hardly Rocket Science) So the chances of first sweet being Orange = 6/10 next one being Orange 5/9........(6/10 x 5/9) = 1/3

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