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"SLAVE of THE STATE" wrote...

Maybe Dan's epitaph will be:

"BURIED BY THE LAW OF AVERAGES"

Better: "He beat the odds."

On Aug 24, 2:32 pm, wrote:
On Aug 24, 2:09 pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:



Last night I asked more than 1% of the world's PhD demographers to
rate the section of the Wikipedia entry that Dan cited for content and
accuracy. The average rating was a just a bit higher than 6 out of 10.

I recently learned that sample size is much more important than sample
proportion. 60% sounds like a fairly good mark.

We agreed 6 out of 10 is a D.

If "60%" is a D, how do you test/grade to uncover exceptional
performers?

I'm guessing "the last points" have increasing difficulty and are very
hard to get -- that is the way I've seen it done sometimes. When I
went to school, point scoring was often more "linear in points,"
meaning harder questions simply had more total points available. 60%
was often a solid A. I suppose either way can work fine.

I remember the first midterm in one of the required upper division
major classes (over 100 students). There were oddly two humps in the
distribution, and the upper one was around 30%. There was one person
in the 80's, and another one in the 90's. I remember that test in
particular because it woke a lot of people up. I think it was the
lowest average score exam that I ever took (or where I actually knew
the dist/avg).

SLAVE of THE STATE schreef:
60% was often a solid A.

Huh. Our grades are always 1-10: 10 is perfect, 1 for showing up. Six
means sufficient to pass, a 5 is not.

Re. "1 for showing up", in the first year of secondary school I had a
French teacher who gave short, unexpected dictations (dictées) where
every error cost a point. She usually stopped counting at 0, or -1 if
you had the nerve to protest or were otherwise disruptive.


--
E. Dronkert

Ryan Cousineau schreef:
Howard Kveck wrote:
I'd think you could get it in Amsterdam. After all, ED's description of
typical
Dutch food is, "Pretty much like French, only with more mayonnaise."

True story: we stayed with my wife's cousin, the well-traveled, urbane
Malou, on our short overnight layover in Amsterdam. She asked where we
wanted to eat, and I said something like "I'd like to have a traditional
Dutch dinner." She looked at me like I had two heads and said there
hardly was such a thing. We had some wonderful Spanish food, instead.

"Dutch cuisine" is usually associated with rich, fat winterfood for
farmers. A highlight would be: mashed kale and potatoes with gravy,
bacon and sausage. See
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afbeeld...l_stamppot.jpg

And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoryutch_cuisine


--
E. Dronkert

"SLAVE of THE STATE" wrote in message
oups.com...

We agreed 6 out of 10 is a D.

If "60%" is a D, how do you test/grade to uncover exceptional
performers?

The problem is that on multiple choice tests 60% is usually the average
score for those who simply pick more or less randomly.

"Jim Flom" wrote in message
newsFhAi.2085$bO6.1835@edtnps89...
"SLAVE of THE STATE" wrote...

Maybe Dan's epitaph will be:

"BURIED BY THE LAW OF AVERAGES"

Better: "He beat the odds."

Knowing Dan that probably wasn't what he was beating........

In article ,
"Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote:

"SLAVE of THE STATE" wrote in message
oups.com...

We agreed 6 out of 10 is a D.

If "60%" is a D, how do you test/grade to uncover exceptional
performers?

The problem is that on multiple choice tests 60% is usually the average
score for those who simply pick more or less randomly.

Tom, I think you're writing a bit imprecisely here.

Assuming a typical 4-answer test with each question worth the same, the
random score is 25%.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
Ryan Cousineau schreef:
Howard Kveck wrote:
I'd think you could get it in Amsterdam. After all, ED's description
of typical Dutch food is, "Pretty much like French, only with more
mayonnaise."

True story: we stayed with my wife's cousin, the well-traveled, urbane
Malou, on our short overnight layover in Amsterdam. She asked where we
wanted to eat, and I said something like "I'd like to have a
traditional Dutch dinner." She looked at me like I had two heads and
said there hardly was such a thing. We had some wonderful Spanish
food, instead.

"Dutch cuisine" is usually associated with rich, fat winterfood for
farmers. A highlight would be: mashed kale and potatoes with gravy,
bacon and sausage. See
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afbeeld...l_stamppot.jpg

And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoryutch_cuisine

At last, someone takes pictures if their food. Even if it is
Wikipedia.

The one meal I've had in Holland was at the airport. Our daughter
picked the restaurant. The potatoes were served with fritessaus.

http://www.cvccbike.com/food/fritessaus.jpg

Bob Schwartz

In article ,
Bob Schwartz wrote:

The one meal I've had in Holland was at the airport. Our daughter
picked the restaurant. The potatoes were served with fritessaus.

http://www.cvccbike.com/food/fritessaus.jpg

I thought fritessaus went extinct around the time the liopleurodon did. Sadly, no.

--
tanx,
Howard

Fabergé eggs are elegant but I prefer Fabergé bacon.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

In article ,
Bob Schwartz wrote:

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
Ryan Cousineau schreef:
Howard Kveck wrote:
I'd think you could get it in Amsterdam. After all, ED's description
of typical Dutch food is, "Pretty much like French, only with more
mayonnaise."

True story: we stayed with my wife's cousin, the well-traveled, urbane
Malou, on our short overnight layover in Amsterdam. She asked where we
wanted to eat, and I said something like "I'd like to have a
traditional Dutch dinner." She looked at me like I had two heads and
said there hardly was such a thing. We had some wonderful Spanish
food, instead.

"Dutch cuisine" is usually associated with rich, fat winterfood for
farmers. A highlight would be: mashed kale and potatoes with gravy,
bacon and sausage. See
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afbeeld...l_stamppot.jpg

Holy Regrettable Food, Batman!

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/spec.html

An old favourite, courtesy James Lileks:

(if you only have time to visit one gallery, you could do worse than
this one):

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/10PM/index.html

And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoryutch_cuisine

At last, someone takes pictures if their food. Even if it is
Wikipedia.

http://www.airlinemeals.net/

What I ate for lunch on August 5th:

http://flickr.com/photos/rcousine/1069137107/

The one meal I've had in Holland was at the airport. Our daughter
picked the restaurant. The potatoes were served with fritessaus.

http://www.cvccbike.com/food/fritessaus.jpg

Bob, I'm thinking you haven't been using enough corporal punishment on
your children.

My parenting skills? Best summed up thus: my 15-pound dog gave me four
stitches and was allowed to live.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos