<< I've also observed--and am thus curious as to why there are so few math questions at the college level and at many national tournaments (Panasonic is the exception, VERY difficult math and science calculation questions are the norm there) >> Dave: At least in Ohio format, you get at least 15 and up to 60 seconds for any question in the category set that requires calculation. If there's a calculation question in the "lightning round" set, you're screwed with having to do the math in < 3 seconds, but that's another story. Also, on bonus questions allowing for calculation, I've usually allowed 15-30 seconds depending on difficulty. I don't think that mathematics is an "aristocracy" of subjects for college. Quite the opposite, I think most collegians feel that mathematics simply isn't simple addition, multiplication, or manipulation of exponents at the college level. It's frankly much more conceptual and diverse since we aren't tested on how fast we can solve problems in college courses. I think we've had some good math questions that we've thrown out for GLRAC, and many of the PACE NSC calculation questions we threw out last year were met with "difficult, but fair game" responses. The thing is that little mistakes in math are a big deal because a calculation is not a question of recall but also of process. If you mistype an answer for math, then you are penalizing a person on how they thought as much as you do the correct answer. Why I can't accept 4/10 instead of 2/5?... that's a little war unto itself (since there's no rule saying you have to reduce all fractions to lowest terms in Ohio...).
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