Paralagathom!

[barnabas_truman]

So today I gave the Algebra I final exam. The students made lots of mistakes. Oh lordy did they make lots of mistakes. There were a few rather good scores--93%, 80%, and 77% were the top (unless you count Hazel, who took the exam too and got 96%)--but overall they were pretty bad. A lot of them seemed to think that they can just make up their own rules for cancellation on the spot--hey, there's a 3 in the fraction here, and another 3 in the fraction there, that means they cancel out, right?

Anyway. They are fortunate that I don't bother taking off points for spelling. One of the questions was "What is the name of the rule that allows you to solve for x [in the right triangle] above?" The correct answer is, of course, the Pythagorean Theorem. Two students spelled it right. Three left in blank. Here, for your amusement, are the rest...

Pathagoream Theorum
Pythagrean therom
Pytharaeom theorm
equation of a right triangle
pythageorean theorem
The Paralagathom Therom
Pathagorean Theorem
Permules principle [a misremembered "Bernoulli's Principle," perhaps?]
Pythagorean theory
The pathogram theory
Pythagorean theorum
pythagoream theorem
Pathagreum theroum
pythagoreum theorum
pythrom theom

Moving on to the next question--"What name refers to the diagonal line opposite the right angle in any right triangle?" I actually don't like this question (I didn't design the test) because the hypotenuse is not always diagonal (depends on how the triangle is oriented) and it's technically a line segment, not a line, but oh well. Most of the class got this one right, but there were a few amusing misspellings as well.

hypotonuse
hypotenuese
obtuse
The hypytonuse
Paralagathom [I love this word!]
hypotinouse
hypothise


I propose that we rename the hypotenuse "paralagathom" because it's such a cool word.

Comments

[elissali.livejournal.com]

that is *awesome*

[ribbin.livejournal.com]

Actually, Paralagathom is the sister-city of Gotham in a different universe.

pythrom theom

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Haha awesome.

Also, "pythrom theom" are you for reals? Are these college students or are you teaching at the local jr high? (serious question)

Re: pythrom theom

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

Close; it's a high school in Cowtown. They're mostly ninth graders.

[whalejudge.livejournal.com]

Why take points off for spelling? Any answer other than "Pythagorean Theorum" is wrong, so they get no points or lose all points (or whatever you do) for answering incorrectly.

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

I didn't take off any points for spelling as long as it was clear that the student knew what theorem it was. Thus "The Paralagathom Therom" got full credit, while "Permules principle" and "equation of a right triangle" did not.

[whalejudge.livejournal.com]

I see. Mr. Truman the math teacher is a softie.

Incidentally, what was Hazel's answer to that question?

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

She got it right, and even spelled it right. The only questions she missed were a couple of multiple choice ones. Something about a negative exponent was one of them; can't remember the other.

Mr. Truman hates multiple choice tests anyway. They don't challenge the students and they don't tell the teacher anything about how much the students understand the material. Their only advantage is that they're easier and faster to grade.

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

I left a radical in the denominator when simplifying a large square root. It was a correct answer, just not "the best" answer. The multiple choice section didn't have sufficient space to really work out problems.

Mr. Truman forgets that I put a smiley face after "Pythagorean Theorem".

[evade.livejournal.com]

I wish I had thought to do this back when I was teaching a summer enrichment course in biology. . .I got some good ones then, though not quite of the caliber of "Paralagathorn."

I think out of all of those, my favorite is "Permules Principle." It must be the alliteration, or the fact that I've not been sleeping much on account of finals, but I picture Permules as being this math superhero that flies around, educating the world about geometry, who arrives heroically to save the day when someone fails to calculate angles correctly or some such.

"It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's PERMULES!"

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

My personal favorite math funny comes from a friend who used to substitute teach:
Q. What is the difference between odd and even numbers?
A. The difference is that even numbers are divisible by 2 while odd numbers are divisible by 1.

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

Well, it's technically true--odd numbers are divisible by 1. My only issue with this answer is the phrase "The difference is that" at the beginning. Remove that and it's fine.

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

>Well, it's technically true--odd numbers are divisible by 1.

I know! That's what makes it so funny!

(Erm... to me, anyway.)

[(Anonymous)]

This is great. You should write these down to remember them. OH! I guess that is what you did here!
You will have so many more stories to tell like these!
-Your Cuz Kel

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

Huzzah for teaching!