Recent content by Antisthenes

In science, one must provide evidence when making statements, so for the sake of conscientiousness I will give some examples of how the word "stretch" is used in Norwegian. Anyone who still cares about this topic can then use Google translator to check that it's very reasonable in Norwegian to...

All Norwegians will concur that in this context it's perfectly reasonable to conclude that "the whole stretch" refers to the intended journey, not the distance of 150 km. Partly because in Norway it's common to use the word "strekning" when discussing a journey or travel distance. Secondly, if...

Here is the original text in Norwegian, on page 365 in Sinus 1T, (2014). Anyone who speaks Norwegian will confirm that it's very reasonable to interpret "the whole stretch" as referring to the whole journey: "Vibeke og Viktor bor 150 km fra hverandre. De ønsker å møtes et sted i området mellom...

Word for word, the translation is very accurate, though some sentences don't sound entirely right in English, as far as I can tell, when translating it word for word. The only word that could have been translated with more precision is "thinks", which in the original has a meaning which lies...

The authors should have clearly seen this ambiguity. In common Norwegian it's natural to read "the whole stretch" as referring to the preceding sentence which mentions the meeting place where they wish to meet, and not referring to the first sentence which mentions that they live 150 km apart...

Well, to be fair, I assume the authors took it for granted that the reader had enough knowledge to quickly try both alternatives and discover the right solution. A noob like me, however... :)

It wasn't really a wrong translation either. Because in Norwegian it actually seems like "the whole stretch" refers to the meeting point, and not the distance of 150 km. However, I have almost no experience with word problems, so didn't know that they are allowed to be that tricky and ambiguous...

One of the main reasons I like math is that there are no excuses. You can't hide. The math book is called Sinus 1T. It's probably the most popular high school math book in Norway, used by those who want to study physics or math at the university. The book is used by many high schools. Therefore...

I'm so damn happy that you reached the same conclusion too. Ironically, during a walk outdoors I had quickly reached this conclusion when I started with the problem, because it's common sense, but dismissed it since the substitution method appeared more advanced in my book, and then I tried all...

Have worked on this for hours now, after seeing that my initial answer was refuted by the math book which says that Tom and Jane meet 112.5 km away from where Tom started. My answer was: Tom's distance = 30 km/h * 3 hours = 90 km Jane's distance = 30 km/h * 2 hours = 60 km Which seems to be...

Wow, impressed and incredibly grateful for such a quick and thorough reply. Have to take a look at it tommorow, because it's 00:04 here in Norway now. But have to understand this, no matter what.

Thanks for reply :) So I have two questions please: Is it a common practice in physics to quickly present the pure math of a new equation and then demand that students will figure out by themselves how to use it, by just looking at a word problem? How does one figure out the speed and assign...

The following word problem is in a chapter covering the substitution method, with two linear equations that have two unknown variables, but providing no context or information about how to apply this method. Tom and Jane are 150 km apart. They plan to meet at a point somewhere between them. Tom...

Thanks for encouraging reply :) I hope you are right that it's mainly lack of experience which is the cause of my struggle with word problems. I mean, when I took the logic course at the university I solved problems on the blackboard in front of the class. I like logic. It's ordered and...

@Vanadium 50 One of the first rules when interpreting a text, especially during a more or less informal online debate, is not to jump to conclusions. Asking questions and not immediately accepting advice is not the same as rejecting it. Back then I sent micromass a pm, thanking him for his...