POLL: Controversial Question 8 (Core)

[doboman]

Hmm, I personally think it's C. Its poorly worded, and understand why everybody thinks its E. For E, better wording would have been "Of those at exposure to high danger risk, what is the percentage whose chance of attack is below average".


For those asking how you come up with C.

there are 3 catagories, high risk is 1 of them. Thus, 1/3 is at high risk.
of those at high risk, ~ 85% are below average. Simple multiplication: 1/3 x 85 = ~ 28%

I think the question will stand. The way it's worded leads to my conclusion, and the only counter argument further maths students have is "it wouldnt be that hard, fm is straight forwards". So I'm not sure which leg they have to stand on. But, for all your sakes, hopefully it is scrapped or both C and E are accepted.

[Sylencia]

Hmm, I personally think it's C. Its poorly worded, and understand why everybody thinks its E. For E, better wording would have been "Of those at exposure to high danger risk, what is the percentage whose chance of attack is below average".


For those asking how you come up with C.

there are 3 catagories, high risk is 1 of them. Thus, 1/3 is at high risk.
of those at high risk, ~ 85% are below average. Simple multiplication: 1/3 x 85 = ~ 28%

I think the question will stand. The way it's worded leads to my conclusion, and the only counter argument further maths students have is "it wouldnt be that hard, fm is straight forwards". So I'm not sure which leg they have to stand on. But, for all your sakes, hopefully it is scrapped or both C and E are accepted.

Like someone said before, there are no exact numbers given, and so it cannot be assumed that the numbers for each bar chart are equal. For example, while 11% in the low-below average segment could represent 11 from a population of 100 for those with a low exposure to danger, it could also represent 1100 from a population of 10000. Then, if the 86% in the high-below average only represent 86 from a population of 100, then we see that 86/(10000+medium+100) does NOT = 28%.

[ReVeL]

Hmm, I personally think it's C. Its poorly worded, and understand why everybody thinks its E. For E, better wording would have been "Of those at exposure to high danger risk, what is the percentage whose chance of attack is below average".


For those asking how you come up with C.

there are 3 catagories, high risk is 1 of them. Thus, 1/3 is at high risk.
of those at high risk, ~ 85% are below average. Simple multiplication: 1/3 x 85 = ~ 28%

I think the question will stand. The way it's worded leads to my conclusion, and the only counter argument further maths students have is "it wouldnt be that hard, fm is straight forwards". So I'm not sure which leg they have to stand on. But, for all your sakes, hopefully it is scrapped or both C and E are accepted.

Like someone said before, there are no exact numbers given, and so it cannot be assumed that the numbers for each bar chart are equal. For example, while 11% in the low-below average segment could represent 11 from a population of 100 for those with a low exposure to danger, it could also represent 1100 from a population of 10000. Then, if the 86% in the high-below average only represent 86 from a population of 100, then we see that 86/(10000+medium+100) does NOT = 28%.

Exactly right. Doboman you cannot assume each catergory is of equal weight, thus the only possible answer is E.

[lachymm]

Pretty sure its E

[doboman]

Yeah, that slipped my mind. My bad :$. I still think the intended answer was C, but VCAA forgot to put something in about them being equal. Also, the wording of the question does not lead to E. Poorly worded, will be surprised if this question is not scrapped.

[stonecold]

There is no way this question will be scrapped.  The answer is E. 

Reasoning:
-As others have said, C can only be correct if each bar represents the same number of animals.  As this is not stated in the question, it can not be assumed.
-VCAA has already thought this out.  They knew people would go 86/300 = 28.66%.  This then rounds up to 29%.  They purposely listed 28% to give you a hint, that this calculation was wrong.  Never in all the VCAA practice papers I have done, has a multiple choice answer been correct when the rounding is off.  They were giving you a hint by doing this.

This question will stand.  I am very confident of this.

[xXNovaxX]

There is no way this question will be scrapped.  The answer is E. 

Reasoning:
-As others have said, C can only be correct if each bar represents the same number of animals.  As this is not stated in the question, it can not be assumed.
-VCAA has already thought this out.  They knew people would go 86/300 = 28.66%.  This then rounds up to 29%.  They purposely listed 28% to give you a hint, that this calculation was wrong.  Never in all the VCAA practice papers I have done, has a multiple choice answer been correct when the rounding is off.  They were giving you a hint by doing this.

This question will stand.  I am very confident of this.

nice logic (no sarcasm)

[Munis]

There is no way this question will be scrapped.  The answer is E. 

Reasoning:
-As others have said, C can only be correct if each bar represents the same number of animals.  As this is not stated in the question, it can not be assumed.
-VCAA has already thought this out.  They knew people would go 86/300 = 28.66%.  This then rounds up to 29%.  They purposely listed 28% to give you a hint, that this calculation was wrong.  Never in all the VCAA practice papers I have done, has a multiple choice answer been correct when the rounding is off.  They were giving you a hint by doing this.

This question will stand.  I am very confident of this.

yes, i absolutely agree with that and it is a very true point that you make in that "VCAA have never had a mark correct when the rounding was off" 
well thought out

[/0]

You shouldn't need to look for the subtle rounding 'clues' to figure out what the question is asking for. I still think that syntactically the question is asking for C, yet not enough information is given to work it out, so it's a dud question.

If the question was:
The percentage of (animals whose exposure to danger is high) whose chance of attack is below average, is closest to

then it would be non-ambiguously E.

As I think Neobeo was implying, it's the and that screws everything up

"The percentage of animals whose exposure to danger during sleep is high, and whose chance of attack is
below average, is closest to"

[andy0004]

I still do not understand how people can think it is anything but E.  It really is quite straightforward.

[Hooligan]

You shouldn't need to look for the subtle rounding 'clues' to figure out what the question is asking for. I still think that syntactically the question is asking for C, yet not enough information is given to work it out, so it's a dud question.

If the question was:
The percentage of (animals whose exposure to danger is high) whose chance of attack is below average, is closest to

then it would be non-ambiguously E.

As I think Neobeo was implying, it's the and that screws everything up

"The percentage of animals whose exposure to danger during sleep is high, and whose chance of attack is
below average, is closest to"

Yes. Totally agree.

I think its also because in methods when you see 'and', in probability, it means to 'multiply' and hence the multiplication of 1/3 x 85 ~ 28%

[xXNovaxX]

lets all wait till December 14th and then order that paper thing

lolll

[Gloamglozer]

lets all wait till December 14th and then order that paper thing

lolll

Statement of Marks, I presume?  Or we could wait until May when the assessor's report comes out, but I think most people would rather spend that extra $10 because by May, we'd all be like, "What's Further Maths?"

[codykm]

i went with E. its further, not meant to be any tricks, just basic straightforwardness

[Ilovemathsmeth]

If it's C, I want that question to be scrapped. The wording was unfair. =(