I'm a mathlete!
July 12, 2013 7:11 AM Subscribe
You Can't Do Simple Maths Under Pressure (autoplay music)
More like I can't move my mouse fast enough to the separated buttons and/or have to move my eyes to three distinct places on the screen to see everything.
Also, a warning for auto-play music would be a good addition to the FPP text.
posted by ish__ at 7:14 AM on July 12, 2013
Also, a warning for auto-play music would be a good addition to the FPP text.
posted by ish__ at 7:14 AM on July 12, 2013
Numberwang!
posted by preparat at 7:16 AM on July 12, 2013 [21 favorites]
posted by preparat at 7:16 AM on July 12, 2013 [21 favorites]
ish__: "More like I can't move my mouse fast enough to the separated buttons and/or have to move my eyes to three distinct places on the screen to see everything.
Also, a warning for auto-play music would be a good addition to the FPP text."
Agreed on the autoplay warning. As for the mouse? Try Q for the left answer and P for the right.
posted by Samizdata at 7:16 AM on July 12, 2013
Also, a warning for auto-play music would be a good addition to the FPP text."
Agreed on the autoplay warning. As for the mouse? Try Q for the left answer and P for the right.
posted by Samizdata at 7:16 AM on July 12, 2013
Wow, this is amazing! I get so self conscious when I have to do math under pressure I get simple stuff wrong . This might help!
posted by eq21 at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by eq21 at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
I can however just hold down the Q button for a while and then get to see the awesome screen at the end!
posted by jeribus at 7:24 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by jeribus at 7:24 AM on July 12, 2013
Having the equation 6x-14=52 flash before you, and having about 1 second to solve it is not pressure. It's hitting the limits of cognition. Eventually I cannot even attempt to do the math, I can only estimate.
posted by cotterpin at 7:35 AM on July 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by cotterpin at 7:35 AM on July 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
The victory page is stunningly ugly. Be glad that you can't do math under pressure.
posted by bpm140 at 7:37 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by bpm140 at 7:37 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
Worth it for the ridiculous end screen, which feels like a B3ta animation from 2001. Along with the daft song. "Subtraction, disco action!"
But what is this Soaker Toa? It's pronounced Soccer Toa, dammit!
posted by the latin mouse at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013
But what is this Soaker Toa? It's pronounced Soccer Toa, dammit!
posted by the latin mouse at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013
What page does victory occur on? I, uh, already know, but I'm testing to see if you know.
posted by codacorolla at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
The final success "Maths Party" screen is a thing of beauty.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by middleclasstool at 7:38 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Mod note: added autoplay warning and changed title per OP request.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:41 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:41 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
It's 10 pages I think?
Oddly I found the time-based ones to be the hardest. Primes were the easiest, because I seem to have accidentally memorized them.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:49 AM on July 12, 2013
Oddly I found the time-based ones to be the hardest. Primes were the easiest, because I seem to have accidentally memorized them.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:49 AM on July 12, 2013
I'm American. I can only do one math under pressure.
posted by dudemanlives at 7:53 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by dudemanlives at 7:53 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]
I can only estimate.
I think that is actually part of the skill you're supposed to get. I didn't do the math for any of the time ones, I just scanned to see if it was supposed to end in 5 or 0 and there was always one of each. I got to eight. Mine didn't play music.
posted by jessamyn at 7:53 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think that is actually part of the skill you're supposed to get. I didn't do the math for any of the time ones, I just scanned to see if it was supposed to end in 5 or 0 and there was always one of each. I got to eight. Mine didn't play music.
posted by jessamyn at 7:53 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Good god. That ending screen.
posted by spitefulcrow at 7:54 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by spitefulcrow at 7:54 AM on July 12, 2013
I can do the maths, but I can't do the math party. :(
posted by Mojojojo at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Mojojojo at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Weirdly, I'm not getting any music. Is it "Under Pressure"? I assume that's the joke.
posted by curious nu at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by curious nu at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013
I have to do simple math all day long for my job. I'm a hospital pharmacist. I got up to level 4. That's as fast as I can do it and be accurate. Another thing I have to do all day long for my job is tell people to deal - I'll go as fast as I can and still be accurate. No faster.
posted by selfmedicating at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by selfmedicating at 8:04 AM on July 12, 2013
feels like a B3ta animation from 2001
I got it from Rob Manuel's Twitter feed, so that's probably why.
posted by slogger at 8:07 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
I got it from Rob Manuel's Twitter feed, so that's probably why.
posted by slogger at 8:07 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
^^^ Sorry guys, my cat posted that.
posted by orme at 8:24 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by orme at 8:24 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
The trick to later stuff is not so much estimating, it's being able to quickly identify which answer *can't* be right. Like-- 15 minutes before something that ends in a 5 must be something that ends in a 0. That kind of thing. Which is a good skill to have, but not so much 'doing simple math under pressure'.
posted by Sequence at 8:39 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sequence at 8:39 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
I can do math under pressure. I can't make my right and left hands work under pressure though.
posted by maryr at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by maryr at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2013
See, I already knew I couldn't do simple math(s) under pressure, because every time I'm discussing a problem with my adviser or another student and have to convert frequency to seconds (usually kHz to ms. Or does kHz go to µs? aaah!) I just kind of stand there making fish motions with my mouth and hands until they do it. This, on the other hand, I found relatively easy (level 7 on my first try), for reasons people have already laid out--when you only have two choices, you can let elimination and estimation do most of the heavy lifting.
(I wonder if this might be, right down to the math(s) title, a U.S./U.K. thing? I think growing up under the new emphasis on "testing skills" leading up to NCLB probably has a hand in it for me, and long before then, the SAT/ACT enshrined the ability to do speedy multiple-choice arithmetic as a fucking life skill rather than a mildly entertaining party trick.)
posted by kagredon at 9:10 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
(I wonder if this might be, right down to the math(s) title, a U.S./U.K. thing? I think growing up under the new emphasis on "testing skills" leading up to NCLB probably has a hand in it for me, and long before then, the SAT/ACT enshrined the ability to do speedy multiple-choice arithmetic as a fucking life skill rather than a mildly entertaining party trick.)
posted by kagredon at 9:10 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
The trick to later stuff is not so much estimating, it's being able to quickly identify which answer *can't* be right. Like-- 15 minutes before something that ends in a 5 must be something that ends in a 0. That kind of thing. Which is a good skill to have, but not so much 'doing simple math under pressure'.
Well, it is "doing simple math under pressure", but it's also "recognizing you don't have to do hard math under pressure to get the right answer".
Also that ending screen was definitely a thing.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:11 AM on July 12, 2013
Well, it is "doing simple math under pressure", but it's also "recognizing you don't have to do hard math under pressure to get the right answer".
Also that ending screen was definitely a thing.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:11 AM on July 12, 2013
Also I spend third grade playing Number Munchers during recess, so I have been training for this most of my life.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:12 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:12 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]
I closed the tab after failing at level 8 a couple times (quite a few lucky guesses/retries got me there) and the auto play music continued for a good 2 minutes afterwards. I thought I'd never escape the pressure! It seemed I was doomed to spend the rest of my life crumbling in the face of the simplest questions, living in fear of a large advancing orange bar... the horror! And then I found a second tab running this amidst the myriad I had open.
I found using a keyboard (Q and P) helped a lot over the mouse.
posted by BorgesianSisyphus at 9:13 AM on July 12, 2013
I found using a keyboard (Q and P) helped a lot over the mouse.
posted by BorgesianSisyphus at 9:13 AM on July 12, 2013
The ending screen is more torture than pressure.
posted by cincinnatus c at 10:38 AM on July 12, 2013
posted by cincinnatus c at 10:38 AM on July 12, 2013
I now know that I can do maths under pressure, to an extent. Like sequence says above, it became an estimation/rationalisation exercise at the faster speeds.
Oh, using the keyboard makes it much easier - as does leaving the volume muted; the bar creeping across from the side is enough pressure already! :)
posted by Chunder at 10:55 AM on July 12, 2013
Oh, using the keyboard makes it much easier - as does leaving the volume muted; the bar creeping across from the side is enough pressure already! :)
posted by Chunder at 10:55 AM on July 12, 2013
I didn't miss anything until I was in level 8 and I hit my first solve for X thing, and I couldn't even parse it in the time allowed because having not seen a question of that form up to that point, I read the X as times, so the question made no sense.
Having gone through and seen all the question types once, I went through the second time and was able to do all 10 levels without a mistake.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:09 PM on July 12, 2013
Having gone through and seen all the question types once, I went through the second time and was able to do all 10 levels without a mistake.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:09 PM on July 12, 2013
You want math under pressure?
In Flash Anzan, 15 numbers are flashed consecutively on a giant screen. Each number is between 100 and 999. The challenge is to add them up.. I was at this year's championship to see Takeo Sasano, a school clerk in his 30s, break his own world record: he got the correct answer when the numbers were flashed in 1.70 seconds. In the clip below, taken shortly before, the 15 numbers flash in 1.85 seconds..
In this clip the two [nine year old] girls are adding up 30 digits in 20 seconds while simultaneously playing "shiritori", a Japanese game in which you must say a word beginning with the last syllable of the previous word.
More at The Grauniad.
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:31 PM on July 12, 2013
In Flash Anzan, 15 numbers are flashed consecutively on a giant screen. Each number is between 100 and 999. The challenge is to add them up.. I was at this year's championship to see Takeo Sasano, a school clerk in his 30s, break his own world record: he got the correct answer when the numbers were flashed in 1.70 seconds. In the clip below, taken shortly before, the 15 numbers flash in 1.85 seconds..
In this clip the two [nine year old] girls are adding up 30 digits in 20 seconds while simultaneously playing "shiritori", a Japanese game in which you must say a word beginning with the last syllable of the previous word.
More at The Grauniad.
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:31 PM on July 12, 2013
OMG. Carol Vorderman.
posted by yellowcandy at 2:51 PM on July 12, 2013
posted by yellowcandy at 2:51 PM on July 12, 2013
Having the equation 6x-14=52 flash before you, and having about 1 second to solve it is not pressure
No, it's 11.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:30 AM on July 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
No, it's 11.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:30 AM on July 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
Huh. With the exception of the time questions ("What is 17 minutes before 2:06?"), I didn't have to do any estimation at all, I just did the math. But, like Jacquilynne, I totally borked it on my first "2X+1=7" type question, because I just kept thinking "What do you mean, 'two times plus one'? Two time what plus one?!"
posted by Bugbread at 10:47 PM on July 15, 2013
posted by Bugbread at 10:47 PM on July 15, 2013
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