Current and active math majors: NCEA test

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Batman

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#203146 19-Sep-2016 18:31

Hi i tried to do the questions and couldn't do a single one. Mind you i don't claim to know math.
But i read head of departments couldn't do the paper.

So my question is: can university math majors or lecturers do the paper?
Can't be that hard, just need to know some formulae to apply ... Right?

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zenourn

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#1636104 19-Sep-2016 20:24

PDF copies at http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/exam1.pdf and http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/exam2.pdf

I'm a real-life mathematician - BSc (Hons in mathematics, 1st class). Then did a PhD in Medicine but was basically a lot of mathematics.

Questions are classical algebra along with requirements for logical thinking and that you can actually describe what you are doing and the meaning. It looks like it has been put together by a mix of a classical mathematician as well as reflecting the new mathematics curriculum.

These questions are definitely not any more difficult than when I went through school.

I don't actually use this stuff much at all these days, although there is still value in learning it (the process you learn in attacking a problem). Computers trivially solve these equations and most real-world work is such that you can't solve algebraically anyhow. In applied mathematics now it really is a case that you spend most of your time understanding a problem and writing code.

Fred99

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#1638826 22-Sep-2016 16:00

An NCEA exam that subjected Year 11 students to questions allegedly above their curriculum level has provided a welcome opportunity for smug adults to use the internet to demonstrate how much better they can perform tasks than a 15-year-old child.

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