September 16, 2008

Because I'm a competitive so and so


Because Mr New School asked me to, I tried a little game over at the New York Times.

And because there's really no way for me to prove this, you'll have to take a screen cap as my proof, man.

Twenty-five questions...twenty-four right...96%

I dig the idea of using estimates, and it's something that I've worked on from here and there for years in the classroom. If a person can look at a problem and get an estimate - even if only on the scale of the answer - it shows that they have a much better math sense and will likely doa lot better once they start using the real math with the real numbers.

6 comments:

DanEcht said...

I claim the same result. If you question, I will send you the screenshot.

calencoriel said...

He didn't say you'd cheat...he said you'd try to beat the system...totally different.

calencoriel said...

Update, I also went 24/25 - first time too, not like I built up to it or anything.

I just can't prove it to anyone b/c I don't know how to post a freaking screen cap to my blog...

I know how to get a screen cap...and have one saved...but nope...no clue how to post it.

I guess I should have listened to all that html mumbo jumbo you tried to teach me 5 years ago, huh?

cmorin said...

I only got 80%. But I can tell you what size almost any nut or bolt is by looking at it.... so HA!!

PHSChemGuy said...

Dan...pr.proof

Calen...it's sort of the same thing, isn't it?...beating the system is not playing by the rules, and I'm thinking a lot of people would consider that cheating...

Calen, again...take a screen shot...open up any image editing software (Fireworks, Paint, Photoshop, whatever)...paste the image...and save it...

Craig...you, sir, are clearly and unarguable the Nut Master...congrats...

calencoriel said...

Okay...I was thinking I could do some stuff with the screen cap if I had Fireworks, but alas, I was on the home computer and I don't have Fireworks on the home computer.

Beating the system is figuring out how to beat the house but still playing by the rules (imho), cheating is doing something dishonest to beat the house...mirrors, earpiece, stacking the deck, magnet under the roulette table...that's cheating. Playing the game again and again and figuring out the hook to win - go with your instinct, focus on the color you see most, make sure no kids are in the house so you can pay attention, make sure the virus gets in the drinking water - that's beating the system.