PhantomStranger

I don't mind this cast but the producers continue to push one or two very obnoxious personalities on us. It gets annoying, even if they are the center of the created drama.

Another tip for the producers - We don't need to see all of the strategizing between the nerds. While this is a game show, no one is watching for the game play. I get enough of that nonsense on the thousand other reality shows.

fumanstan

Not surprised to see Todd go out after his tantrum, but it was hard to blame him for being upset that he was getting thrown in even though he didn't necessarily deserve it. I liked the nerd off game they played, although I really don't get the Sumo there

PhantomStranger

I thought this was a pretty good episode. The less we see of the hosts by this point, the better. We have seen their entire schtick over three seasons and it has worn thin.

lwhy?

Was that the worst performance ever in a nerd off? I can't remember anyone getting shut out before...

mnementh

How the hell could all the nerds with graduate degrees not do the easy high school math problems in mere seconds? Even if she never actually took a geometry class, I expect a NASA engineer to know the subject backwards and forwards since it's used in trig and mechanics.

PhantomStranger

I know a lot of manual calculation by younger generations has been subsumed into tasks done completely by calculator and computer. So the results are engineers that can build a bridge with sophisticated modeling programs but can't figure simple trig problems on their own.

It was a mind-boggling admission.

fumanstan

I don't really see the big deal or the shock, math is one of those things to me that unless you have to deal with a particular set of problems regularly that it's easy to forget. A NASA Engineer wouldn't necessarily have to know about basic geometry (although i'm more surprised she said she never took it; for me, it was standard in high school).

Don't forget the actual Mathematician on the other team needed the high school teacher's help to solve a question.

I have a bunch of Calculus classes under my belt, but probably couldn't do most algebra or geometry questions under a gun.

mnementh

I learned math from an analytical perspective, rather than just a how-to methodology, having to prove theorems on my own. Calculus required an axiomatic knowledge of algebra. Likewise, learning differential equations and differential geometry required an axiomatic understanding of calculus. I couldn't answer test questions in short amounts of time if I had to remember how to differentiate and integrate or not know algebra like the back of my hand. And what happens if a prof. throws a Math Olympiad or Putnam Exam question onto a problem set or even a test?

Besides, math is constructive. Actually understanding fundamentals rather than just memorizing lines from a textbook makes forgetting not an issue. It's like learning computer science and not having to remember basic control structures or learning music theory and not having to remember how to play a scale. Physics is similar- if I ever "forget" something, I can just go back to basics and derive whatever I forgot. In college, mathematicians and theoretical physicists viewed themselves as different from other scientists, especially ones in biology, because their subjects were "pure" and could be reconstructed mentally without having to memorize books of facts.

Learning math didactically also helps remember the basics. The guy with the math doctorate should've had teaching experience as a TA in grad school. He also should've known math basics enough to have done well on the math GRE subject test and work his way through oral quals without a hitch. When I was a TA, and when I tutored fellow classmates for their classes or the SAT or GRE, I dealt with students who were struggling and had to learn how to approach problems from square one, not rely on memorizing solutions.

Break it down- Move the right triangle and you get a rectangle with the same area. A = w * h, where w = 11. A = 88 so h = 8. The hypotenuse of the triangle was 10 so the remaining side has a length of 6 (Pythagorean thm). 11 - 6 = 5. That took me longer to type than to deduce.

fumanstan

Good for you?

madcougar

My dumb ass figured out those problems pretty easy.

With that said, this bunch of nerds is not nearly as unlikable as last season's.

mnementh

Well, I've been a NASA engineer myself and if I found out a fellow engineer didn't have a solid grasp of math, I'd have that person fired.

mnementh

They should have a nerd war that requires the losers to hang out with Zack for 24 hrs.

fumanstan

You should start making calls. Or go on the show to flex your superiority.

Bill Needle

Yeah, as far as the whole "I never took geometry" thing I call bullcrap.

pinata242

Geometry is a completely skippable class in (Junior) High School. I wouldn't be surprised at all if a future NASA Engineer was allowed to bypass it in favor of continuing Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus or even advanced to a point where she was taking college courses while the rest of the AP/Advanced seniors were stuck in high school.

We don't know have her transcripts, but it's far from unimaginable.

Bill Needle

It was more of a logic problem than "geometry" since grade schoolers know A^2 + B^2 = C^2 for a right triangle. It had nothing to do with knowing some complex geometric algorithm. It was about being able to apply common knowledge to find the result using the information given.

That said, it is different when doing it under pressure. So I'll assume that was the issue.

Bill Needle

Trigonometry would have to be another class she skipped. I think it's more about excuse making for people who are used to always being the smartest person in the room. I've seen plenty of that in my day.

And as mentioned above, I would be pretty reluctant to hire a NASA engineer that lacked even a middle school level understanding of geometry.

fumanstan

Geometry wasn't skippable at my High School; if I recall, it went Algebra - Geometry - Algebra II/Trig as requirements, and then others did Pre-Calculus or Calculus via a Community College course for college credit.

Although honestly, I probably couldn't even do that stupid right triangle formula these days either. Or would have to think about it for a bit.

lwhy?

I hated Geometry in high school. I could do the math easily, but I hated proofs. I don't see why you had to write proofs....

mnementh

It's not a matter of superiority. Math is a constructive subject: geometry is a foundation for understanding trig which is then necessary for vector calculus and Fourier transform and such. Moreover, a NASA engineer would need to know physics with all its math nitty gritty.

mnementh

I'm curious about the editing. The math doctorate guy did the other problems in his head seemingly in no time at all. I wonder if he stumbled on the parallelogram problem or if the Jeopardy champ merely beat him at verbalizing the solution.

fumanstan

You sound real fun at parties.

But seriously, I don't understand most of what you're saying so i'm just being purposely silly; no need to take my responses that seriously.

mnementh

http://ezinearticles.com/?Geometry-P...hem&id=2174908
http://www.slideshare.net/tarungehlo...roofs-15902325
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55436.html

mnementh

A mechanical engineer presumably would've also taken analytic geometry as part of calc or pre-calc.

Paff

It depends. Does she know that squares are also rectangles?

Anyway, I solved that problem much like y'all, but why did they even include the area of the parallelogram? You didn't need it to solve it. A right triangle with a hypotenuse of 10 MUST have 6 and 8 as the other two sides. Once you know that the width of the parallelogram is 11 (given), subtract the 6 and viola, you have the answer 5. And yes, I did say "viola". Kelly Bundy reference there.