Exactly. That seems the entire point of the question, to me. I can’t remember having tests that would lie to me when asking something like “how is this possible?” expecting an answer of “it’s not.” Perhaps “is this possible?” but not “how is this possible” which is extremely leading and suggests it is possible (and, in this case, it clearly and obviously is). I think the teacher is flat-out wrong.
That said, I also take with a huge grain of salt these click-baity/viral posts of “real world” tests with a controversial correction by the teacher. I’m inclined to believe that this one has a reasonable chance of being true, but I have a little bit of skepticism.
Reminds of the time in ninth grade, the teacher wrote on the board: “Defend the proposition: The problem with being open-minded is that your brains may fall out.”
About one-third of the class tried to write reasoned arguments about situations in which being too open-minded might be a bad thing. When the teacher handed the assignments back he criticized us for spending so much of our time on the obvious incorrect conclusion. Our counter that the instructions were “Defend” not “Discuss” fell on deaf ears.
That ball’s not in my court. Most people are saying the student’s answer is the only correct answer and the teacher’s answer is wrong. I said the student’s answer is correct from some points of view and the teacher’s answer is correct from other points of view. So I don’t need to disprove the student’s answer. All I need to do is show how the teacher’s answer can possibly be right.
My opinion is that the teacher’s answer is stupid and wrong. When a question is asked, the student is entitled to assume that it has an answer and the student answered in what was really the only way possible. By saying that the question is unreasonable indicts the teacher for asked such a stupid question.
Not a single person is asking you to disprove the student’s answer. They’re asking you to back up your answer from the teacher’s point of view. You are asserting that there is a reasonable interpretation that the student should assume the pizzas are the same size. You have to back that up. You don’t just get to make up arbitrary rules to defend someone as possibly being right.
And you still have to explain how the statement “How is this possible?” can accept the answer “it is not possible.”
Exactly. I like to think I’m an intelligent person and I guarantee that if presented with that question my assumption would be that they are looking for something clever. to explain how that state could be correct despite the apparent error. Something exactly like what the student provided. Ultimately, I’d say it is clear what the teacher (or test writer) intended the question to ask, but they butchered the phrasing and because of that the student’s answer is correct. The teacher’s answer is absolutely wrong because there is a way for it to be possible.
Yeah, that photo is pegging the needle on my bullshit detector.
In my entire time in the American public education system, I never got a trick question like this in math class. And I sure as hell never had a teacher provide a neatly-written explanation of why an answer was wrong. If it was wrong, all I got was an X (in red ink, not green).
Yes, let’s fire everyone who ever makes a single mistake. Burn their house and salt their fields as well.
In that thread, the Boy or Girl problem is linked to. From there:
The mathematician is acknowledging something you refuse to: that poorly worded questions can change the answer.
This is really the answer.
The problem with the test question is that the basic assumption is that you don’t question the test for false information. The phrasing for guizot’s question directly addresses reasonableness. If the student provided the answer that the pizza was larger, there would be a better case for marking it wrong as a smart ass.
On that view, the student’s answer is correct. The student made no assumptions; he deduced from the facts given that the pizzas were of unequal size. The teacher, by contrast, assumed a fact not given, and indeed a fact inconsistent with the facts given - viz, that the pizzas were of equal size.
“Yeah, it says he ate 5/6 of a pizza – but maybe that’s false, and it was only 1/6.”
The student’s answer can work even if we for some reason figure a lie is in the mix. But it also works even if all of the given info is true, is the thing.