Peeve

Jun. 20th, 2003 11:57 am
magid: (Default)
[personal profile] magid
I just hate it when people use "name" when they mean "list."

"Name the coefficients of the polynomial." is completely different from "List the coefficients of the polynomial."
The former makes me think of the Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin is asked to write something on a test "in his own words." Of course, his own words have a distinct lack of vowels and a greater tendency towards x's than is usual in English... Technically, a student could write "Jayne, Carolyn, and Michael" to answer the question. Of course, the student will end up with a reputation as a smart-aleck, but that's not quite the point. It's not unreasonable to expect well-written questions (or direction lines) in a text book.
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

Profile

magid: (Default)
magid

December 2025

S M T W T F S
  1 2 3 4 56
78910111213
141516 1718 1920
212223 24 252627
28293031   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Dec. 26th, 2025 10:12 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios