
'Unsolvable' exam question leaves Chinese students flummoxed - lnguyen
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42857864
======
ensignavenger
Growing up in the US, we used to have questions like this on math exams. The
correct answer is something to the effect of "Not enough information to solve
this problem". Of course we had practice questions where that was the case
before the exam, so it wasn't a surprise or anything... but it was standard
practice.

~~~
Harvey-Specter
Questions like "A ball is fired from a cannon at a 45 degree angle, how far
from it's initial position does it land?" are also fairly common in Canada. I
don't recall every being asked something this silly though. There's no formula
to calculate the age of a ship captain based on his cargo. There's no 'missing
piece' here.

~~~
jerf
"There's no formula to calculate the age of a ship captain based on his cargo.
There's no 'missing piece' here."

The lack of relevant relationship _is_ the missing piece.

Given how much nonsense I've personally witnessed as a math tutor or TA as
students shove unrelated numbers through unrelated equations in unmotivated
manners in an attempt to come up with some answer, _any_ answer, I'd say it's
not any worse a question than giving them one that does correspond to an
equation but has too few terms nailed down for a concrete answer.

The weird part of this story to me is that it is somehow newsworthy. Is it
truly such an oddity in China that this made it to international news, or is
there a heavy dollop of our local media basically turning off their critical
thinking when it comes to China or Japan and boggling at anything, no matter
how mundane?

~~~
aje403
Discovery of Jesus on french toast in mexico ignites local flames of
monotheistic debate has caught the attention of the nation, and potentially,
the entire planet

------
RubenSandwich
It sounds like the old programming interview questions: "Why are sewer covers
round?", etc. They sound like they promote critical thinking, but really they
just confuse the applicants. If you want to know how someone thinks, ask them
to solve a problem step by step.

~~~
jasikpark
i only know from learning about it, but round manhole covers prevent them from
falling through the hole by consisting of a curve of constant width. Another
example is the Reuleaux Triangle which is a viable shape for manhole covers.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle)

~~~
mikeash
The problem I have with this question is that it’s based on false pretenses.
Plenty of manhole covers are not round.

------
jkestner
It's a Kobayashi Maru. They're supposed to demonstrate their hacking skills
and change the exam score.

~~~
IntronExon
It’s worth pointing out that the intent of the Kobayashi Maru is to present
the candidate with the terror, trauma, and experience of inevitable doom. Kirk
cheated brilliantly, but that was not the point.

------
floren
It's a classic nonsense word problem, first appearing in 1841:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_captain)

It's also been used to examine how students react to nonsensical word
problems, and this is to some extent backed up by the school's statement.
However, given the reputation of Chinese schools, it's entirely possible the
teacher preparing the test simply threw it in because it looked like a word
problem and the school is just saving face.

~~~
JackFr
> However, given the reputation of Chinese schools, it's entirely possible the
> teacher preparing the test simply threw it in because it looked like a word
> problem

Action: Chinese school tries to break stereotype.

Result: stereotype reinforced, because people would rather believe that than
the explicit explanation.

------
fellellor
Back in school professors used to add goofy questions like this, which could
only be answered if you actually attended the classes. It was a way to account
for diligence, according to the professor anyway.

------
kk_cz
This sounds like a messed up variant of an actual solvable old riddle that
goes something like:

"Imagine that that you are the captain of a ship, there are 26 sheep and 10
goat on board... "

... go on for about 2 minutes talking about how the ship stops in different
ports and how number of respective animals change... Add another animals as
well, make the listener assume that they need to keep the count in their
head...

"Now in the final destination all of the animal get off the ship. How old is
the ship's captain?"

~~~
BrandoElFollito
(Ok, I will be that guy.)

So what is the solution?

~~~
plorkyeran
Your age.

~~~
BrandoElFollito
Ah. This is a nice one, I will try on my children - hopefully they will be
brighter than their dad.

~~~
BrandoElFollito
The younger was :)

------
paulcole
>"The total weight of 26 sheep and 10 goat is 7,700kg, based on the average
weight of each animal," said one Weibo commenter.

Those are some MASSIVE sheep. I like that the internet know it all was just as
wrong as everyone else. Also that the writer of the article didn't even bother
to fact check it.

------
preordained
That's like a question that might appear as a gag in a SNL final exams skit.
I'm for the odd unconventional question that might not follow a premise that
was well-established in class per se (used deliberately, and sparingly)...but
not a question which can only result in confusion and frustration.

~~~
sharemywin
Except that's life.

Here's my answer to that question:

Risky Business(1983):

Miles: Sometimes you gotta say "What the F*ck", make your move.

------
wizardforhire
This is my favorite unsolvable exam question! (Single page pdf)

[http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~tgutierr/files/sml2.pdf](http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~tgutierr/files/sml2.pdf)

~~~
tzs
That's not unsolvable: [https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-
deconstructed-s...](https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-
deconstructed-standard-model-equation)

See also: [https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-what-the-standard-
model...](https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-what-the-standard-model-of-
physics-actually-looks-like)

------
ouid
40 sheep isn't 7700 kg, I don't think. that's 400 lb per sheep.

------
mbfg
Bob is looking at Mary, but Mary is looking at Ed. Bob is married but Ed is
not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person? a) Yes b) No c) Not
enough information to say

------
lancebeet
>"The total weight of 26 sheep and 10 goat is 7,700kg, based on the average
weight of each animal," said one Weibo commenter.

Well that's just not true.

~~~
Anderkent
Maybe they meant pounds? Large sheep can weigh around 250lb so it gets closer
to the 7700 number

