Random Poll of the Day! (559)

[Akonyl]

I'm surprised there are people that have never cheated before, putting equations into calculators anyone?

It would only be cheating if your teacher doesn't allow calculators.

I think he means more the type of cheating where your teacher says "alright, for this next trig test you need to memorize all these formulas" and you turn on your TI-83 and make a new "program" where you just type in all the equations for easy reference, not using calculators for their intended purpose.

[dilbertschalter]

looked at other people's papers several times in a certain high school math class that i found fairly difficult. nothing other than that comes to mind.

[KangarooGirl]

I'm surprised there are people that have never cheated before, putting equations into calculators anyone?

It would only be cheating if your teacher doesn't allow calculators.

I think he means more the type of cheating where your teacher says "alright, for this next trig test you need to memorize all these formulas" and you turn on your TI-83 and make a new "program" where you just type in all the equations for easy reference, not using calculators for their intended purpose.

That's why our school doesn't allow programmable calculators

[Jd-]

I've also cheated on several math tests over the years by inputting all of the formulas and samples needed into my calculator beforehand.

I've cheated plenty of times for other people in English and History, but never for myself. I would never plagiarize a paper or anything like that, though (would never be able to bring myself to do such a thing). I'm sure everyone has their own preferences, but I was virtually always out to prove something in those classes (that it's possible to be top in the class without ever opening the textbook/taking a single note/doing any nightly homework/etc).

For math, though... I'd probably still be in Algebra I if not for the calculator trick. I'd say the majority of you already know this, but for those that don't:

[spoiler]My mind just isn't palatable with mathematics or numbers or anything like that. I'm wired much more toward personal analysis and working out my own, unique solutions. I think it's mostly that there's no opportunity for true self expression in a math classroom: the answer is essentially either right or wrong, and there's rarely an argument to be made either way (of course, in earlier years, it had to be exactly as the teacher wanted when we had to show our work, and that certainly did much for putting me off the whole thing).

One way to put it would be that I want to be able to do my own thing instead of doing what everyone else is doing. Following someone else's example and being expected to do something exactly as everyone else is doing bores me to TEEEAAAARRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS and holds no appeal for me, personally. I know there are plenty of people that adore math and can't live without it and I'm sure have a multitude of reasons as to why they enjoy it, but it's really just not for me.

All that said, I can do well on a math test if I absolutely must. I did well on the math portion of the SAT and all of the state-mandated math tests throughout my educational career (mostly because they were always multiple choice, which renders it almost too easy).[/spoiler]

[MaitreDétective]

I'm too smart to cheat

[Akonyl]

That's why our school doesn't allow programmable calculators

yeah, most places it seems don't allow Graphing calculators and instead juts allow scientific ones for that reason, however in the classes that make a lot of use of graphing you can't really disallow them so much

[Kleene Onigiri]

[spoiler]My mind just isn't palatable with mathematics or numbers or anything like that. I'm wired much more toward personal analysis and working out my own, unique solutions. I think it's mostly that there's no opportunity for true self expression in a math classroom: the answer is essentially either right or wrong, and there's rarely an argument to be made either way (of course, in earlier years, it had to be exactly as the teacher wanted when we had to show our work, and that certainly did much for putting me off the whole thing).

One way to put it would be that I want to be able to do my own thing instead of doing what everyone else is doing. Following someone else's example and being expected to do something exactly as everyone else is doing bores me to TEEEAAAARRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS and holds no appeal for me, personally. I know there are plenty of people that adore math and can't live without it and I'm sure have a multitude of reasons as to why they enjoy it, but it's really just not for me.

All that said, I can do well on a math test if I absolutely must. I did well on the math portion of the SAT and all of the state-mandated math tests throughout my educational career (mostly because they were always multiple choice, which renders it almost too easy).[/spoiler]

Possible that you'd like the "new" teaching here :V Since it's more oriented, so that the pupils try to get to the solution. So we try less to do it like: "Do this and that and now you have solved."
Multiple choice for math still amuses me xD

[KangarooGirl]

That's why our school doesn't allow programmable calculators

yeah, most places it seems don't allow Graphing calculators and instead juts allow scientific ones for that reason, however in the classes that make a lot of use of graphing you can't really disallow them so much

Jeez you guys have it easy. We had to do graphing ourselves as well Went all the way to 1st year Uni maths with a plain scientific calculator

[Akonyl]

That's why our school doesn't allow programmable calculators

yeah, most places it seems don't allow Graphing calculators and instead juts allow scientific ones for that reason, however in the classes that make a lot of use of graphing you can't really disallow them so much

Jeez you guys have it easy. We had to do graphing ourselves as well Went all the way to 1st year Uni maths with a plain scientific calculator

most classes in HS needed a calculator because the questions dealt with almost intentionally bad numbers with huge decimals that you couldn't graph by hand (like "graph this problem that comes out to y=4.863x^3+3 :V"), but when I took Calc 3 in college the answers always worked out much cleaner so that they could take away your calculator and expect you to do without.

[KangarooGirl]

That's why our school doesn't allow programmable calculators

yeah, most places it seems don't allow Graphing calculators and instead juts allow scientific ones for that reason, however in the classes that make a lot of use of graphing you can't really disallow them so much

Jeez you guys have it easy. We had to do graphing ourselves as well Went all the way to 1st year Uni maths with a plain scientific calculator

most classes in HS needed a calculator because the questions dealt with almost intentionally bad numbers with huge decimals that you couldn't graph by hand (like "graph this problem that comes out to y=4.863x^3+3 :V"), but when I took Calc 3 in college the answers always worked out much cleaner so that they could take away your calculator and expect you to do without.

I think you could still graph that function though, with a regular scientific since you can still get where it crosses the x and y axes, and get a few points just from substituting numbers, plus the usual x^3 shape shouldn't have changed. But yes, it does make it more difficult and you'd be slightly less accurate than if you used a calculator. And I guess if there's a big decimal for the x^2 term and x term then it'll be way too hard.

[ProfParanoia]

We can use most any calculators here .

[ranger]

I'm too smart to cheat

Watch out guys we got a badass over here.

If you count copying homework as cheating as well, I find it hard to believe that no one has cheated in their entire lives.  There have been many times during my educational career where I had some excuse whether I was too tired, lazy, had other work and I just wanted to copy the homework before it was due.  Or when I would have a question blank on a HW and I would just look at a friend's to see how s/he did it, and jot it in.

Cheating is easy as pie in pre-collegiate education, simply because, a lot of teachers don't really care.  Universities on the otherhand...that's a different story...I'm scared shitless when it comes to cheating then.  I rather take a C than get ulti-flunked out of the school.

[Commi-Ninja]

the answer is essentially either right or wrong

That is precisely what I love about math:  no gray area.

Don't get me wrong, I love English and History more than math (and am currently working on a major in History), but I definitely appreciate the simplicity that math provides answer-wise.

[ranger]

the answer is essentially either right or wrong

That is precisely what I love about math:  no gray area.

Don't get me wrong, I love English and History more than math (and am currently working on a major in History), but I definitely appreciate the simplicity that math provides answer-wise.

I agree.  The worst thing ever is when you write something that's opinion base, which doesn't have a right or wrong answer, and get marked down because of the grader's bias.  Same deal with art class.  I'm no artist, but I took an introductory lvl course so i could graduate high school, but the jackass teacher sometimes wouldn't give me an A, because simply...s/he didn't like it.

I'm no Picasso or Gosho, but my god this an intro art course in freaking high school, cut me some slack, I'm not going to become an artist and I just need to graduate, my goodness.  I put effort into it, give me the A!

[KawanoMino]

I cheated more than once, but I never got the answers from the other student (ex: Arm in the way, letters too small to see, etc.) except only once... so last option.