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It is interesting to see that much has happened in Mathematics since 1869. All questions are extremely easy. No real functional analysis. Trivial algebra. Some
by shin_lao 12y ago
It is interesting to see that much has happened in Mathematics since 1869. All questions are extremely easy. No real functional analysis. Trivial algebra. Some fairly easy calculus.
The Latin/Greek section is also very easy as everything is provided. When I was a teenager my Latin exams were much more demanding.
The historical section is interesting as it focuses a lot on antic times. It is difficult to judge the difficulty of the question without knowing what was expected.
If anything, this test shows that today standards are much much higher than 1869 standards and I'm not surprised.
- mathattack 12y agoHistorical trends have shown that abstract and critical reasoning (what could be termed IQ) has improved over time. [0] Also, remember the context. This exam was for a very small portion of the wealthiest and highest educated elite. That small subset could learn the historical antiquity if they wanted. (And perhaps they still do at Boston Latin) What's amazing is how far the exam's math has been surpassed by broad subsets of today's society. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect