40% of College Students get this question wrong. AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY!

[OmegaCheese]

Um, Should I know this in Year 8? If so I feel ashamed (I live on Australia so things might be different around the world)

 

[Chewster]

Except when someone produces something (for the sake of example let's say they build a car), you can point at the car and say "This is what person X has contributed to society!"

Cars are bound up in all kinds of aesthetics, as are most "practical" constructions (think of architecture, which is supposed to be the ultimate fusion of science and art).

Are you going to tell me that Apple, manufacturer of computers, simply builds the the most powerful and practical computer they can, and pays no regard to the artistic appearance of their products? Not likely.

Art and science are both intrinsically linked, even if you don't want to believe it. The only difference is how they approach their subjects.

 

[DP155ToneZone]

Also, there are a lot of people who study fake majors (like Art, Music, etc)

Them's fighting words.

Tell me the intervallic structure of the Locrian Mode.


Horses for courses.

I for instance don't know anything about midwifery. But that doesn't mean my friend who is currently at Uni studying it berates me for not knowing things about pregnancy.

 

[ezeroast]

yea learnt this stuff in high school but since it has absolutely no use in life i have forgotten all of it.

 

[insaneHoshi]

You know art isnt all that bad as long as its the useful kind, ie. a free body diagram of a suspension bridge, man that is art at its finest

 

[buggy65]

i have to respond to this with a question. Who cares? its the same argument i gave to my teachers back in high school, it never comes into practical everyday use, so it's useless outside of studies.

Ask the military. They will tell you how useful it is in ordinance and R&D.

notice how i said PRACTICAL EVERYDAY USE, you may as well have said math teachers

Alright, how about your taxes? How about the money that should accumulate in your savings? Finding the maximum/minimum cost of anything! Last time I checked everyone uses money.

 

[clzark]

doesn't FOIL stand for first, outside, inside, last?

 

[Scde2]

I did this stuff before I was even in high school

 

[latenightapplepie]

I had no idea and got it completely wrong. Then again I dropped maths two years before I finished high-school and dropped paying attention a year before that.

And now in university I study languages and classics.

So I don't think it's a big deal.

Perhaps in the US you guys can't drop out of maths before college, and therefore as college students you should know the answer, but whatever.

 

[Nomad]

Edit: Also, there are a lot of people who study fake majors (like Art, Music, etc), and they don't tend, or need, much in the way of math classes so it's somewhat understandable. Depressing, but understandable.

This is an attitude that I never understood. I understand that you say so mostly in jest, but you must be partly serious even to have thought of the statement in the first place. Why is natural science more valuable than, say, social science?

I term anything where the ultimate goal is to not really produce anything useful (or where the value is subjective) as a "fake" major.

I can honestly not think of one single useless subject, or one where the value is entirely subjective.

I could argue that advanced mathematics is useless, because it seldom reaches practical application and instead becomes numbers for the sake of numbers. The same goes for advanced physics. There is a value in it, however, because it has long-term applications and indirect effects. So does art and music - which also have direct effects to boot, as a musician is bound to produce music and a painter is bound to produce paintings.

I will say, though, that any and all politicians are, as a group, basically useless though. If only because the US government has very successfully jaded my views on such things in recent years.

Err... I'd like to know how you reached that conclusion. Politicians enable everything else in society, as they distribute common resources and dictate common policy. Politicians, as a group, are not only absolutely essential to society, but also probably the most underappreciated and exposed professional group of all.

That the US government stinks is first of all subjective - and I believe you critizicised "fake majors" earlier for having subjective values. Second, even if that is true, it is hardly the politicians' fault. They're elected to enact certain policy - and the voters decide what that policy should be through the general elections. If they didn't enact the policy they were elected to enact, they wouldn't be doing their jobs properly. If you disagree with your national policy, take it up with your national populace, not the politicians. It's the populace that make the final decision.

 

[Lost In The Void]

That doesn't make sense at all. Art and Music isn't about creating something useful? They create beauty, entertainment and thought provoking materials that help people gain perspectives. These kinds of things are really important to any country and any culture. Calling these things "Not Useful" is completely naive and ignoring a valuable gift that many people have. You say yourself that you are talented at Computer Sciences, where as that won't work for me no matter how the Professor would teach it. My talents are understanding and interpreting political matters and examining psychs of people. These are both leading me to complete a major in Political Sciences which is, as I mentioned above, an Arts Major. This means I can become a political adviser, analyst, or as I plan to do, use it to then get a Bachelor in Law, which is an extremely necessary career. This is only my example but as it stands, it appears to stand in contrast to what you think about Arts Majors

I probably should've just gone with the parenthetical first and foremost. The value of art is subjective (plus the actual educational value of studying art in a structured learning environment is questionable at best) thus I call the study of art a fake major.

I don't mean that art, music, entertainment, etc is useless (and I really should be more careful with my choice of words), but that they're value is entirely subjective.



I will say, though, that any and all politicians are, as a group, basically useless though. If only because the US government has very successfully jaded my views on such things in recent years.

Alright based off of your responses and what your major is, I'm going to assume your main way of thinking is the logical one, and as such you would see art as more of a lesser subject. I agree with you on many counts, art is subjective, but so is any technology or science to some people. Look at extreme religious views, those who give up technology for pursuit of religion at its purest form. Of course this is not myself, but rather an example on how anything can be subjective depending on the perspective you look at it in.

Its plainly obvious that will have to agree to disagree on this so instead of continuing to compare ideals, I instead have to say that we both have valid points and we're both most likely right in some way or another, so instead I have to thank you for keeping this civil and I must move on as this most likely is not relevant to the discussion at hand, if you wish to continue this, for it is fun and interesting to see other opinions, then feel free to carry it to PM.

On a final note, I'm sure if I was American there would be some jaded thoughts on that government, fortunately I live a little more north of that.

 

[thenoticeableshadow]

yeah i got it wrong but that's because im still in high school. actually its probably because im failing maths.

 

[Phoenixlight]

It looks like it would be

Spoiler

x^2+9+6x

Although, i'm not sure if I would have known the answer if I hadn't have taken maths at A.S-level.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

I got it right and I'm 15. It might help that expanding brackets to quadratic equations is one of the most important things we need to know for GCSE.
Give me another 5 years, then we'll see...

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Well, I sppose that if their course load requires no algebra, not understainding FOIL isn't much of a problem. After all, they might not have used that incredibly useful skill for over a year.

 

[jubosu]

Easy stuff gotta go count that 1 for us college students.
Soon to be college dropout due to lack of funds and dedication.

 

[Deef]

I learned this shit in grade 10 pure math. It's easy.

Spoiler

it's x^2+6x+9 btw

 

[Cabboge]

Well, I wasn't sure what FOIL means, as I usually refer to it as "expanding" or some variation thereof, but I did know the answer.

Edit: Also, there are a lot of people who study fake majors (like Art, Music, etc), and they don't tend, or need, much in the way of math classes so it's somewhat understandable. Depressing, but understandable.

"Fake?"
FAKE?

As an art major, I work my ass off. Ask anyone in the IRC; I'm always doing working. I'm here taking a break from doing art, then going back for more.

I'm sorry, but if you seriously think that the arts aren't real majors, you obviously know nothing about it.
If the OP gets to say that people not knowing foil makes him mad, then I am taking the liberty of saying that people insulting something they know nothing about makes me mad.


But yeah, first, inner, out, last. Makes me think of the fencing impliment. But isn't it more people not knowing PEMDAS?

Took the words straight outa my mouth. I'm a Theatre major and the amount of people who drop the basic theatre classes is unbelievable. People take them thinking an easy A for the reasoning of "a theatre class is nothing but reading a few lines off a script". Being a lighting designer is something I would like to see a math major succeed at,

 

[Brad Shepard]

its math questions with x, no one gets that shit!

 

[clzark]

40% of college students get this wrong, or 40% of American college students get this wrong?

I'm not trying to insult America or anything like that, I am in fact an American College student, but when I sit in class, I find that at least 60% of the people in it are complete dumbshits, with absolutely no reasoning skills.

The reason I say American, is that I have not gone to school outside of America (yet), but I here that schools in Europe and Asia put a lot more emphasis on math and science, which leads me to believe that a lot fewer people would get this question wrong.

Oh, and the answer is:

Spoiler

(x^2)+6x+9

are you a freshman? I'm a freshman right now, and I've noticed my 1010 classes (which are most of my classes) have a significant amount of people who don't understand they're not in high school anymore and act like dumbshits

however, my more advance classes, that tend to have students who are a year or two older, tend to be much more mature and contribute to the class. but, that's just my experience