Ambiguity in Bright Sparks questions
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
Ambiguity in Bright Sparks questions
DD has pointed out a possible ambiguity in the wording of someType Z questions in the Bright Sparks series.
It occurs in the sort of problem in which you have to work out someone's age from the information given. Such pieces of information include "Jenny will be 10 next year". In this case, if Jenny's next birthday is this year, then it follows that her current age could be 8, though the answer always indicates that we are meant to deduce that she is in fact 9.
The question should really be worded "Jenny will be 10 on her next birthday" to avoid this ambiguity. I haven't come across this problem in NFER papers, but have advised DD to assume "next year" to mean "next birthday" in questions of this type.
Has anyone else encountered this problem?
It occurs in the sort of problem in which you have to work out someone's age from the information given. Such pieces of information include "Jenny will be 10 next year". In this case, if Jenny's next birthday is this year, then it follows that her current age could be 8, though the answer always indicates that we are meant to deduce that she is in fact 9.
The question should really be worded "Jenny will be 10 on her next birthday" to avoid this ambiguity. I haven't come across this problem in NFER papers, but have advised DD to assume "next year" to mean "next birthday" in questions of this type.
Has anyone else encountered this problem?
Marylou
