My favorite teacher in high school – world history- always liked history anyway. We didn’t have a book, took notes during his lectures, all the tests were 100 question True-False, AND we could look at our notes during the test! It was amazing to me how many got poor grades!
This cartoon seriously misrepresents statistical probability in more ways than one.
E.g., there is a common misconception that by guessing randomly on a T/F test, one should expect to get half (that’s 50%) of the answers right. Not only is that wrong, but there’s never (until now?) been an “at least” connected with that myth.
What’s more, the result of guessing depends critically on the way both the correct answers and the guesses are distributed between T and F. E.g., if the questions are phrased so that all the correct answers are T ( or all F), then a guessing “strategy” that “assumes” that the right answers are all the same will either get them all right or all wrong. No 50/50.
I had Nerwin’s scholastic ability when it came to high school chemistry. I finally admitted defeat and dropped the class after I got a -10% on a 10 question quiz. I had one answer correct but I failed to write the numbers 1 through 10 correctly, having left out a number so my sole correct answer was beside the wrong number. i also misspelled my last name which is why i got a negative test score.
Cornelius Noodleman over 3 years ago
That’s what my dad said after the Football Game.
Fritzsch over 3 years ago
Obviously not a math class, since the teacher should know better than to apply a statistic to a single observation.
Sanspareil over 3 years ago
That’s odd!
Susan00100 over 3 years ago
Nerwin must have the same teacher as Peppermint Patty.
jagedlo over 3 years ago
You were being a little optimistic in Nerwin’s case, weren’t you, teacher?
david_42 over 3 years ago
After completing a 50 question T/F test, I told the teacher that my answers were reversed. I got a 98%, the guy next to me got a 2%.
j.l.farmer over 3 years ago
or you could get 100 wrong..poor Nerwin!
oldlady07 Premium Member over 3 years ago
My favorite teacher in high school – world history- always liked history anyway. We didn’t have a book, took notes during his lectures, all the tests were 100 question True-False, AND we could look at our notes during the test! It was amazing to me how many got poor grades!
gammaguy over 3 years ago
This cartoon seriously misrepresents statistical probability in more ways than one.
E.g., there is a common misconception that by guessing randomly on a T/F test, one should expect to get half (that’s 50%) of the answers right. Not only is that wrong, but there’s never (until now?) been an “at least” connected with that myth.
What’s more, the result of guessing depends critically on the way both the correct answers and the guesses are distributed between T and F. E.g., if the questions are phrased so that all the correct answers are T ( or all F), then a guessing “strategy” that “assumes” that the right answers are all the same will either get them all right or all wrong. No 50/50.
cuzinron47 over 3 years ago
Failure is an option.
theincrediblebulk over 3 years ago
I had Nerwin’s scholastic ability when it came to high school chemistry. I finally admitted defeat and dropped the class after I got a -10% on a 10 question quiz. I had one answer correct but I failed to write the numbers 1 through 10 correctly, having left out a number so my sole correct answer was beside the wrong number. i also misspelled my last name which is why i got a negative test score.
Sisyphos over 3 years ago
Nerwin’s academic prospects are not good. In fact, he’ll probably graduate from Yale….
WentHulk over 3 years ago
Wow……..
notinksanymore over 3 years ago
I’m no statistician but that doesn’t seem right to me.
WentHulk about 2 years ago
Wow…………