3 ms·
If it is ambiguous, there is no answer. There must be an answer. Therefore, it cannot be ambiguous. The answer given is the only one it is possible to give. Th
by derleth 13y ago
If it is ambiguous, there is no answer. There must be an answer. Therefore, it cannot be ambiguous.
The answer given is the only one it is possible to give. Therefore, it must be the correct one.
The context isn't so much "third grade" as it is "math test", and very, very few math tests allow "Question ill-formed as posed" as a valid answer. Maybe more should.
- jayferd 13y agoThat's actually a great idea. If I were a math teacher, I would teach my class that IFQ is a reasonable answer to a question, and I'd throw in a few plainly ill-formed questions just to keep them on their toes. Actual thinking > correct answers.
- Fargren 13y agoI think for most questions that are not very straight forward, IFQ would be a valid answer with only very little argumentation. That's why formal languages are needed.
- jamessb 13y agoThe first round of the UK Maths Challenge * is multiple choice, and does often include questions with "not enough information provided" as one of the available answers. However, this isn't a mechanism for identifying badly phrased questions. * (the feeder competition for the British Mathematics Olympiad, and then the International one)