NFER MATHS - PAPER 11B - Q31 - IMPOSSIBLE!

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Maths Man

NFER MATHS - PAPER 11B - Q31 - IMPOSSIBLE!

Post by Maths Man »

Just looking at this paper I spotted a diagram in question 31 on NFER Paper 11B asking a child to calculate the area of a parallelogram.

It gives the lengths of two of the sides as 5 cm and 3 cm. Hence the parallelogram has sides 5 cm, 3 cm, 5 cm and 3 cm. It then proceeds to show that 1 cm from one of the apex the perpendicular height is 2.7 cm.

Either NFER have it wrong or Pythagoras got it wrong!

The diagram is asking you to accept:

3 squared = 1 squared + 2.7 squared

I have checked this question with other mathematicians and the diagram is WRONG!. If NFER cannot get their questions right what hope do we have? How do you justify to your child that although NFER have got this question wrong they still set the exams?
Guest

Post by Guest »

The area of a parallelogram is defined as base x perpendicular height

Hence the area of your example is 5 x 2.7 which gives 13.5 cm squared.

Hope this helps.
Guest

Post by Guest »

The parallelogram surely has to exist before you can work out its area?

Try drawing a parrallelogram with the dimensions given.

It is not possible.
Arti

Post by Arti »

Hi Maths Man,

I just looked up the question.

It is not possible to have a parallelogram with those dimensions and a perpendicular height of 2.7 cm.

Total nonsense. NFER has got it worng. The side that is labelled 3cm should be 2.88 cm for the diagram to be possible.

Tut Tut! :roll:
Neela
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:32 pm

NFER ERRORS

Post by Neela »

Maths is not the only area where NFER have made errors. I came across a few in non-verbal reasoning whcih burdened me for weeks. In the event I submitted the question to a tutor who cofirmed it was an error by NFER.

Problem is NFER don't have customer service section that can verify whether there is mis print or mistake with any questions and so some of us end up pulling our hair out for weeks on end ... I think NFER should have a 24/7 helpline for us 11 plus parents! :D
Lew

Nfer misprints

Post by Lew »

Hi

I very much interested in the comments regards misprints found in the NFER papers

I think I may be in a similiar situation as I have been doing the NVR papers with my daughter and came across some answers that I thought were suspects. I have spent quite a time puzzling over their answers and still not sure.

I just wondered if you could let me know what NVR paper/Q the misprints are.?

I intend to take the matter up with NFER .

Lew
Guest473

Post by Guest473 »

I too have come across questions I could not answer or got a different answer to the NFER answers in NVR, but after a good while- sometimes a couple of weeks- the answer would come to me. I do not think there are any incorrect answers in the NFER booklets.
Lew

Post by Lew »

Hi Guest 473

I am inclined to agree with you that what I thought was a misprint was infact the correct answer. I am referring to the NVR paper that I had spent ages figuring out the correct answer.

I did get in touch with NFER and they claimed that to the best of their knowledge there were no misprints.
Guest

Post by Guest »

The diagram is misleading but NFER have covered themselves by not labelling exactly where the 1cm is measured to and at the same time not explicitly stating 2.7cm is the perpendicular height. The 1cm is in effect "information overload" to confuse anyone not sure which measurements to use to obtain the correct answer.

To be fair, the majority of children (10 or 11 year olds) taking this type of tests would have only been taught the basics of mathematics and have around 1 minute to workout the answer and hopefully it's the correct one too.
Rayman

Nfer Maths Q 31 paper 11B

Post by Rayman »

Area of a parallelogram = Base x perpendicular height, regardless of the drawing this should be a simple case of knowing your formulas, not questioning the drawings accuracy, surely ?
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