Tuesday, November 14, 2006

a versatile number line

perhaps i should have been more specific with my directions.
i guess i just thought one would usually assume that a number line is just that -- a line.

but, it is not so. on my last test in "intro to math", this was the number line one student drew.



it's definitely one of my top ten wrong answers of all time. i should start a list...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is hilarious!

Unknown said...

Maybe he ran out of room?

sarah said...

well, the "ran out of room" theory breaks down when you realize that the part of the "line" that curves around underneath is completely unnecessary. (sp?). in fact, the rule i have in my class is i need three numbers. the number of the actual solution, one number before it, and one after.

Anonymous said...

I showed my papa this and he said "who said lines had to be straight?"

Brad said...

I know it curves and that's unusual, but I think it's correct. So they gave too much information - that shouldn't lose points. Am I an idiot?

Brad said...

No it is definately wrong - I looked at it wrong (thought the 5 was a negative 5 - I bet the student confused him/her self and did the same thing).

sarah said...

two things make it wrong.
#1 - the answer is wrong.
#2 - the student never wrote the answer. they just graphed it. i require that they tell me the answer, so that they can't get lucky on a graph.

Brad said...

My favorite thing is that it appears that between 5 and negative ten is negative fifty. That's a versatile number line.