Usually the pointer is the blahblah the teacher was droning while you were fantasizing about the attractive classmate sitting directly in front of you

ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1d

I suppose “by definition” would probably have been counted as wrong

GraniteM@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1d (2 replies)

I'm thinking maybe "Because if you subtract 40 from my number you get a negative number," but I could be either over- or under-thinking it.

scibra122@piefed.social · 4 pts · 1d (1 reply)

I was guessing either it has fewer digits or the tens digit is less than 4 would be the desired answers depending on what the selected number was, that kind of question feels like it would predate negative numbers on the learning curve

rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social · 1 pts · 1d

"Because it has less in it"

grue@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1d (1 reply)

Yeah, I always felt like I was either pointlessly restating the obvious or it expected me to derive the damn thing from first principles.

::: spoiler AI slop proof, just because I was curious if duck.ai could do it

Using the natural numbers defined from 0 by the successor operation S:

1=S(0), 2=S(1), ... , 20=S^20^(0), 40=S^40^(0)

Define a < b to mean that there exists a natural number k such that

a+k=b.

Take a=20 and k=20. By repeated addition,

20+20=40.

Since 20 is a natural number, there exists a natural number k such that

20+k=40.

Therefore, by the definition of the ordering relation,

20<40.

(Is it correct? Fuck if I know!) :::

Zarobi@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 1d

A.I. is proving that 20<40 by:

creating a sequence
then completely disregarding that
then saying that since you can add 20 to itself to create 40 it must be less
then disregarding that and saying that the sequence of numbers proves it because we found 20 first

Honestly since it's such a simple equation, in real life you could just say 20<40 because 20<40. You don't really need to prove anything, the proof is in the logical operator. The homework question is dumb because it isn't clear what they're asking for.

kubica@fedia.io · 40 pts · 2d (2 replies)

Because that's how numbers work, duh.

PointlessLifePersonified@slrpnk.net · 11 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Arbitrary glyphs can mean whatever we decide they mean. One day 8 could mean what we commonly consider to be 2 today - we just have to choose for it to be so.

Chef@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 2d

Reality by agreement.

bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de · 24 pts · 2d (7 replies)

What's the expected answer? "Because 2 is less than 4"? Could be "because 20 + 20 = 40" but that seems to be too advanced for these types of tests.

NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de · 25 pts · 2d (1 reply)

The question is intended to create an existential crisis and gaslight the pupils. How can anyone truly know anything?

nymnympseudonym@piefed.social · 4 pts · 2d

Seriously this question can only be properly answered with Russel & Whitehead

Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 2d (4 replies)

Probably a number line? Draw a line to show it's only 2 jumps to 20 but 4 equally spaced jumps to 40.

As a teacher that's what I would've done at least. Number lines are quite effective at helping kids visualize numbers.

This response doesn't seem to indicate this particular teacher has adequately explained what the expected answer is though.

RidderSport@feddit.org · 3 pts · 2d (2 replies)

Sounds reasonable, but the task should be something like "Draw a graph and show why 20 is smaller than 40" or something

Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Eh, I don't necessarily agree, you're testing a child's ability to come up with a solution moreso than their ability to follow instructions. Other answers are possible, and maybe a student prefers their own way. But one way of doing it, like a number line, should be so ingrained in all students that anyone knows at least that one way of doing it, imo.

lugal@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 1d

I don't think so. The question is so vague that I wouldn't know what to say and be stressed out. For a class room setting where everyone can share their idea it would be a different story but not in a test

StumblingWasabi@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 1d

[ removed ]

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2d

"Because I paid attention to my teacher."

That should do it.

DigDoug@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1d (4 replies)

The teacher is probably looking for something like "Because 40-20 is positive".

snooggums@piefed.world · 8 pts · 1d (3 replies)

"Because 20 - 40 is negative."

Jankatarch@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1d (2 replies)

"Because ln(20/40) is negative."

Gonzako@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1d

"Because with 20 cranks you can't do 40 hogs"

StumblingWasabi@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 1d

Because the set of numbers including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 contains a greater amount of numbers than the set of numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

crozilla@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d

Lazy quiz questions were the bane of my education.

tyler@programming.dev · 5 pts · 2d

This has to be the most useless red circle I’ve ever seen.

OwOarchist@pawb.social · 4 pts · 2d

"I asked ChatGPT, and it said so."

Etterra@discuss.online · 3 pts · 1d

Because I could eat 20 cookies, but 40 is too many. And that's terrible.

9gagescapee@altgag.net · 2 pts · 1d

I a'm smart t o'o!

PointlessLifePersonified@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 2d

I was soooo expecting a picture of Trump under that post title.