Team,
Great job on the practice test today. Scores ranged from 20 correct to 6 correct. The average was 11.7 correct.
In general, scores were higher than last year (although, it was a different test).
The bonus learning for this week is Warm up 2. It is attached. Show your work and underline what the question is asking to get points and candy.
The following students should see me next week for a prize:
Luther – underlining what the question was asking.
Chenya, Felicity, and Ameila – writing down their thought processes instead so they didn’t have to keep everything in their head
Congratulations to Tiernan (20), Lochlan (19), Xutao (18), Chenya (16), and Jacob (16) for getting the highest scores.
Evan (25), Sage (21), and Max (20) had the highest scores for the coaches.
The high miss questions were:
#2) The value of a word is the sum of the values of all letters in the word. The value of each vowel (A, E, I, O, U) is 8 and the value of each consonant is 5, so the value of the word HAPPY is 5 + 8 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 28. What is the value of the word MATHCOUNTS?
The correct answer is 59. There are 3 vowels (3×8=24) and 7 consonants (7×5=35). 24+35=59.
The most common reason for missing this was miscounting the letters or arithmetic mistake,
#8) If Andrea randomly chooses two distinct elements from the set {1, 2, 3, 4}, what is the sum of the least possible and greatest possible products?
The correct answer is 14. The least possible product of 2 distinct elements is 1×2=2. The greatest possible product of 2 distinct elements is 3×4=12. The sum of those products is 2+12=14
Most people who answered this incorrectly put "10" as the answer. 10 is the sum of 1, 2, 3, and 4. This is an example of answering the wrong question. The most important step in getting the right answer is to take the time to make sure you understand the question. Underlining what the question is asking for is a helpful strategy.
The final high-miss question was:
#15) In a bag, there are 12 purple, 7 green, 11 blue and 3 pink marbles. If you select two marbles at random from the bag, without replacement, what is the probability that you will choose first a pink marble and then a purple marble? Express your answer as a common fraction.
The correct answer is 3/88.
There are 12+7+11+3=33 total marbles. The odds of picking a pink marble first are (3 pink)/(33 total) = 3/33=1/11
Because the question specifies "without replacement," there are now 32 marbles left in the bag. The odds of choosing a purple marble are (12 purple/32 total)=12/32=3/8
To find the answer, we multiple the two probabilities together.
1/11 x 3/8 = 3/88
There were not as many common mistakes with this question as with the other 2. However, some people put fractions that were not in reduced form (like 36/1056 or 12/352). An unreduced fraction or radical will always be marked as incorrect.
If you have read this far: email Coach Ben your favorite color before 11:00am on Wednesday to get candy or a sticker (your choice).
Take care,
Coach Ben
