90% of 200 Students Fail Basic Algebra Problems

vvaduva writes: Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen — suggesting city schools aren't preparing them, a CUNY report shows. During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem, the report by the CUNY Council of Math Chairs found. Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.

CUNY is making it unnecessarily complicated

[formfeed]

If only they had done the study with 100 instead of 200 students, they could have published their results much earlier.

Also 90% out of a 100 students would be fewer people, I think.

Re:

[jjbliss]

The results would have been published faster, but having a greater sample size generally tends to give more meaningful results.

It WOULD be fewer people. Exactly half as many.

CUNY Algebra Test Fails English

[coolmoose25]

I don't know if this [cuny.edu] is the test that 90% failed, but their "Elementary Algebra" question number 2 is misspelled...

"Which of the following expressions represents the product of 3 less that twice X and 2 more than the quantity 3 times X"

that != than