How times have changed
 

My other half acts as an exam adjudicator at her local secondary School, she told me that she has an exam today a 1pm, but she would have to be there by 12.15 because its maths and she would have to hand out calculators:eek::eek::eek: Calculators, I said, thats changed since our day, we didn't have calculators but we weren't allowed to use a slide rule or anything like that, we had to use what god gave use, brain power:rolleyes:

Re: How times have changed
 

Presumably you were too thick to use log tables.

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No we used log tables leafy and I did pass as well:D

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exactly, Bonnyboy

Re: How times have changed
 

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths O-level in 1981, at school. I failed.

We were allowed to use calculators when I took Maths GCSE in 1990, at Brixton College. I passed.

It's also much easier than it used to be.:D

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I remember we used to have to give the answer, and show the working out beside the answer, so, does a maths problem now have to have the numbers of the calculator pressed and the order in which they were pressed? Along similar lines, my eldest son who is now 27, lit some of the magnesium in science class, he got detention, and in his opinion it was out of order, I reminded him that we would probably have got '6 of the best' he didnt have a clue what I meant.

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We had to use calculators for certain things in the exams but on the others we couldnt just "cheat" and use a calculator, we had to show all working out on the page. It may be getting easier but it was 12 years since I passed my GCSE so dont know how it is just now but i know calculators are being used more and more.

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when i did mine you were allowed to use them for one paper but not for the other, you still had to show how you worked it out tho. calculaters arent cheating, you still have to know how to do the math, the calculator just gives you the answer quicker.

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Its not easier according to the teachers though, I know who I'd believe!

You're right though, doing an exam developed for 16 year olds when you're 26 you'll find it easier.

Jaysay, they should have a calculator and non-calculator exam.

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The teachers would say it's equally hard though, otherwise they'll look like they aren't teaching it as well as they used to.;)

O-level, one exam, which accounted for all the marks.

GCSE, one exam, which accounted for 50% of the final mark. Oral test, which you could use a calculator for, and which counted as 25% of the final mark. Project, which was done at home, and which could be checked before being submitted, and which made up the remaining mark.

Fact.

Having done to two, rest assured it is easier, including the questions.;)

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i'd believe that if i was your age, its better than looking dumb.:p

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I once got a proper shouting at school. I have an uncanny knack with maths that I can 'see' the solution in my mind and would often just write the answer down. The teacher used to berate me all the time for not showing the working out. one day I submitted my homework with pictures of a head with gears whirring inside or with fingers pressing buttons on a calculator. He went absoutely ballistic! :D

We wre allowed calculators in my day(1985) but you culd equally do it all in your head. In fat calculators often made it harder as tehy naturally 'rounded' teh answer and when you have calculations that are 15 - 20 'layers' deep these rounding errors would accumulate to give teh wrong answer.

e.g, sin 45 = 1/square root of 2 ( hard to write on a post but always what i would use ) or 0.7071068 to 8 significant figures. use teh latter as a basis of a calculation and you have 'gained' a small fraction that will mean your next layer will be that bit further out. continue and its soon pushing you further and further away from teh 'correct' answer.

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Which school were you at Entwisi?? I left in '85 too :D - from Mount Carmel :eek:

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Just wait until, instead of 'you may use calculators', the adjudicator says, "You may use your lap-top and internet connections are, here, here, here and here, just like a Stewardess telling you about emergency exits!
:rolleyes:

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I`m sure that when slide rules and log tables first came out, the "older" generation tutted and said "none of that in my day". I dont see anything wrong in using the tools of the day as thats what people will use in the real world. At the end of a day a calculator will only provide the right answer if you put the right details in so you have to know what you are doing.

Now if they were allowed google and email to get someone else to do it then I agree thats not correct, but a calculator is fine. Its a bit like in an art class...If someone submits a project which is CGI, but they have made it all themselves etc is it any less art just because a computer made it rather than himself directly ?

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nearly 45 years since I last used log tables and still remember 0.4972 as the log of Pi .
a brain is a terrible thing to waste :D :D

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All they taught at my school was the ingredients of a pie. :p

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This is the reason that a lot of young people can't calculate anything in their heads. We got brains to use them, don't need a calculator

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It's true, there are times when we need to use mental arithimetic, and when we don't have access to a calculator.

Perhaps we'll soon be able to take secretaries, or P.A.'s, into examinations.:D

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kids exams are easier they just make them look harder , for some strange reason when my son has maths homework the way the show him to work out long multiplication and division takes up half a page per sum

to be honest since c.s.e examinations it has got easier and easier to pass an exam in the UK

a retarded monkey could pass a G.C.S.E as the teacher basicly does most of your exam with you over the year during class to make sure at least the pupils get that part right and at least get a pass

dont get me started on N.V.Q's they are basicly certificates for the stupid and i point blank refused to take one at my last employment seen as i had been doing the job for 10 years i certainly didnt need a thicko's certifcate to tell me i knew what i was doing:rolleyes:


never mind calculators in 5 years time each student will probably have a teacher doing the exam paper for them so we at least appear to be as bright as the rest of europe

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I went to Rhyddings! I was one of thjose who enjoyed teh snowball fights down at teh bottom of teh road. :D

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It really winds me up when I have to tell someone how much change they owe me and don't get me started on helping out by giving the odds i.e. 55p when it is £3:55, they look at you blank:o

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shoulda gone to saint christophers we didnt have as far to go for a snowball fight lol

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*stares blankly at bernie*

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What do you mean Rindi they'll be sending them in their place:D

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I was given a slide rule when i went to the high school - when i left 6 years later i still couldnt use the damn thing in fact i may still have it. Got a calculator at the same time - now that i could use!!!! Not got it now though - it saw me through my CSE's though.

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Ive just googled slide rule because id never heard of it before.. can anyone explain how you use one?

wikipedia describes it as 'a mechanical analog computer' obviously not a computer in the same way as the thing i am using at the moment.

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Can you count to 10?

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Well that's not exactly true, because an NVQ level 3 in Care can be a pass into Nursing through UNI .... so not always. And a NVQ level 4 and 5, will get you a managers job!!

But I do agree, if you have been doing a job for 10 years, and you don't want to GO UP THE LADDER so to speak, then why do managers persist on people doing NVQ's just to prove they can do the job they have been doing perfectly fine for 10 years??

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I have a GCSE in math... i can count to 50 :D:D

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Dont ask me!!!:D

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I do understand what you are all saying, but at the end of the day, when you are thrown out into the world of actual work and contributing to the economy, working out various mathematical equations in your head are surfeit to requirements.

For instance, years ago, myself, whilst speaking to customers had to work out simple things like, a discount of 12 %, adding the VAT percentage at the time, and quite a lot of Pythagoras to calculate table sizes, and cloth they would need to fit tables, etc.

So much easier and saves precious time/money if you have a calculator in front of you to do these sums. Sure you get the drift. Can you imagine doing long division if you are sat in front of a customer or the clock ticking away on telephone charges .. :eek:

i.e. table size is 27" x 27"
27 x 27 = 27
x 27
729

729 x 2 = 729
x 2
1,458

Square root of 1,458 = (need log. table for this)
38.18.

Then would have to work out the table cloth to go on top of this with say 15" drop, etc., 57" .. but need to stick to standard size, which would be 54" square .. oh yeh, these will have a point drop of (Pythagoras again :rolleyes:) corner to corner = 76". Average drop to floor is 30" so take away 38.18 from 76" = 37.82 divide by 2 = 18.91 from the floor !! And this is not an industry mathematically industry driven, so would be a nightmare for those that are. WAKE UP customer, you falling asleep .. LOL.

Oh, and next question is need to know in total how many 50 of these cloths are going to cost me plus any carriage (vat chargeable) !!

Thank goodness for calculators .. do not wish to go back to working all this out in me head, or on notepaper.

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bit of a wander , but I do think the older generation brought up before decimalization had a better grasp of basic math and mental arithmatic . One only needs to look at all the different systems we had to learn ........ and how many of each made up the other
measurement....inch, feet, yards, furlongs, miles
weight ........... ounces, pounds, stones,cwts , tons
money............1/2d,1d,3d,6d,shillings, two bobs, half-crowns, and £s

and I defy anyone to tell me how the "whitworth" system for nuts and bolts was arrived at

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The only thing I ever learnt in Thos Kennedy's maths class was:

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is
The bird is on the wing
But that's absurd
The wing is on the bird

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Whitworth got his nuts caught in a mangle and thought it was a bolt of lightning...........He patented them............Yes or No :confused::rolleyes:

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and dont forget steeljack its now BSF and BSC - Whitworth was the inbetweener for the UNF and UNC .....

Now ive managed to confuse everyone....