Should there be more chances given for physics problems?

(Cross-posted here from the feature requests board/tag, where it wasn't getting any attention)

Alright, so, we're given three tries to get the answer for each question, physics or maths. However, three tries to answer a maths problem is a lot more than three tries to answer a physics problem. For the maths problems, we're given a fairly limited search space of 999 integers. This actually gives us a few more "tries" than physics problems do. If our workings for maths return results that are negative, non-integral or greater than 999, we can reject them immediately, whereas there are no such easy tests for physics. Careless mistakes are vastly harder to detect in physics, and much more costly. In maths, we are only given three orders of magnitude to work with; anything falling outside this scope is immediately rejected. As for physics, you could be several dozen orders of magnitude off and you wouldn't know until you put it in and lost a try. And even then your mistake wouldn't be obvious. A wrong answer in physics could mean that you're off by a difference of 10−2010^{-20}, or a factor of 102010^{20}.

Therefore, I propose that we be given a greater number of chances for physics problems, to reflect how much easier it is to use them up.

Note by John Khoo
7 years, 7 months ago

No vote yet
3 votes

  Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

  • Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
  • Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
  • Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
  • Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold

- bulleted
- list
  • bulleted
  • list

1. numbered
2. list
  1. numbered
  2. list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

[example link](https://brilliant.org)example link
> This is a quote
This is a quote
    # I indented these lines
    # 4 spaces, and now they show
    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in \( ... \) or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 2×3 2 \times 3
2^{34} 234 2^{34}
a_{i-1} ai−1 a_{i-1}
\frac{2}{3} 23 \frac{2}{3}
\sqrt{2} 2 \sqrt{2}
\sum_{i=1}^3 ∑i=13 \sum_{i=1}^3
\sin \theta sin⁡θ \sin \theta
\boxed{123} 123 \boxed{123}

Comments

There are no comments in this discussion.

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...