SAT Math - Back to School Theme

Tanner 0:01

Is this like capitalist propaganda?

Andi 0:04

We took the 2,400, because I gotta score higher than 1600 in.

Tanner 0:10

when he read the first answer, I was like, isn't that what you just said in the question?

Andi 0:14

no, Okay Yeah. Okay. Okay. I did it. Yeah.

Tanner 0:19

Yeah.

Andi 0:22

But wow. That was stressful. I have some like

Sups 0:26

legs

Andi 0:26

like some test anxiety now. Hello, and welcome to the, I should have known podcast, the trivia podcast that can't be trusted each week. Our Quizmaster presents you with four big facts on a topic, but one of those facts is a lie. And here at the, I should have known podcast. We are celebrating back to school for this month. Since many countries around the world are going back to school now or soon. And our quiz master today is soups. he's going to be doing his episode on S a T math. Should be fun. I would like to warn listeners that we have a very different format this month. So the facts are actually going to be presented like test questions and you will be given four options, B, C, and D. And the quiz master will tell you what the correct answer is. But one of their correct answers is actually wrong. So join me, Andy and our other host Tanner in trying to figure out which one of so's correct answers is a lie.

Tanner 1:26

We have to correct the teacher this, I mean, it's a little different

Andi 1:29

That's kind of

Sups 1:29

Nice. Okay. Yeah, we're talking about S a T math. So for those who don't know, a T is a three hour and 50 minutes exam, consisting of five sections, reading, writing, math. Where you can use calculator and math without calculator.

Tanner 1:45

Mm-hmm

Andi 1:46

Okay.

Sups 1:46

And that brings me to the low hanging fruit of the week. What is the full form of S a T.

Tanner 1:52

Oh

Andi 1:53

yeah. Oh yeah S a T is obviously Sobes Andy and Tanner.

Sups 1:56

that's correct.

Tanner 1:57

all you need to

Andi 1:58

know.

Tanner 1:58

know.

Sups 1:58

Yeah.

Tanner 1:58

Is it Scholastic aptitude test?

Sups 2:02

Yes and no.

Andi 2:03

Oh, trick question stands

Tanner 2:05

for S a T. That

Sups 2:07

correct. It actually S a T has no every variation, but from 1926 to 1993, sat T stood for scholar stick aptitude test. However, the college board changed the name in the 1990s because aptitude implied. Innate

Andi 2:24

Yeah

Sups 2:24

Yeah. And so for a brief time, the test was known as Scholastic assessment test and then in 1997, finally, they decided, okay, this has no every variation

Andi 2:35

it's just S a T. Now it doesn't stand for anything.

Sups 2:38

Yeah, funnily enough in India we always call the sat exam really? So we never really said it S a

Andi 2:44

So it's a true acronym in India Okay

Sups 2:48

I took the exam in 2007 when the total score was like 2,400, but now it's like 1600.

Andi 2:56

Yeah. they changed the

Tanner 2:57

Mm-hmm

Andi 2:58

We took the 2,400, because I gotta score higher than 1600 in.

Tanner 3:01

yeah. Cause now it's the new scores out of 1600.

Sups 3:04

mm-hmm

Andi 3:04

But what's interesting is so like in the Midwest where Tanner and I are from the S a T is not the most common college entrance exam. It's the, a CT. So I took both and my a C T equivalent was higher than my actual S a T score. So I just used that for all my applications. I got a

Sups 3:23

Yeah Okay, cool. Yeah,

Tanner 3:25

I don't remember my score.

Sups 3:26

Okay. the worse

Andi 3:27

I

Tanner 3:28

it was above 2000, but I don't remember what it was. So maybe that should deduct points for my score

Andi 3:32

yeah, right. Yeah.

Sups 3:33

Yeah, mine was also around the 2000 mark, but they had a cutoff of 2100 where I applied and I was like, really disappointed that I missed,

Andi 3:41

Yeah. Mm-hmm I don't remember what my equivalent was, but I got a 30 on the, a C T, and this was like a higher, right.

Tanner 3:48

that's out of

Andi 3:48

36, cause that's outta 36. but I think that also kind of speaks a tiny bit. To these issues about who the test is for mm-hmm because this S a T is for Coasties it's for east coast Americans. Mm-hmm you know, they go to school taught specifically to take this test where everyone assumes you're gonna go to college. So there's S a T test prep programs. There's, you know, even in their public schools, they're taught strategies for taking this test and what scores you need and how to apply to colleges. This did not exist where I lived. Like I went to a rural public school in the Midwest mm-hmm so, like, I think it kind of speaks a little bit to that, that my S a T equivalent, was lower. Right. Cause the S a T is not for me. Yeah. But the a C T is a little bit more. For people like

Tanner 4:34

Yeah Mm-hmm

Sups 4:34

What also makes it incredibly hard for like international kids because sat T which I found is very us focused. Right. Mm-hmm which is why I think a lot of international kids, or like, I can talk about like Indian kids, we did very well in math, cuz that's sort of universal and like Indian math, like it's slightly more advanced. We learned a lot of the stuff in like seventh or eighth grade, but the English was way more challenging. Not because it was something new, but it was the approach. Like the vocab, it was completely different because we used to learning like British English More Indianized version. So vocab was like, I don't know this word. So we had this bunch of like 200 words that you must know or whatever. So yeah, the English was challenging.

Tanner 5:16

Yeah,

Sups 5:16

yeah Okay. So then back to school, are we ready for some math

Tanner 5:21

Whew

Andi 5:22

So just to reiterate again, because it's a bit confusing, the format is soups is going to read a question like you would see on the S a T give you four options, a, B, C, D, and then tell us what the correct answer is. But for one of his four questions, He will tell us the wrong answer is correct. So he's lying.

Sups 5:40

Okay. Question number one, the football team has jerseys numbered from 10 to 30. Everyone gets a Jersey and there are three left over how many people are on the football team.

Andi 5:55

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Was it 10 to

Sups 5:58

Yes. 10 to 30. The options are a 23, B 18, C 21. And D 19, and the right answer is option B 18.

Andi 6:12

Okay. Yeah.

Tanner 6:13

When I look at this, I think of like, answer the question as quickly as possible. And so right off the top of my head, it sounds like it's 33 leftovers should be 27, but it feels like that's sort of a trick, especially because none of the answers, even in seven. Yeah. So it feels like, so there's deeper thinking here. You have to do a little bit of

Andi 6:31

math. Yeah Well you would think it'd be like 20 minus three,

Sups 6:34

Yeah

Tanner 6:34

it's like, oh, it sounds like there's 30 of them, but there's not, oh, there's 20 of them, but there's not. And

Sups 6:40

so it's

Andi 6:41

I think that's the trick of it is it's like you forget the

Tanner 6:44

mm-hmm

Andi 6:45

I mean, that all sounds. I'll check very reasonable to me. Yeah.

Tanner 6:49

When I'm looking at these tests, I'm always afraid that there's like some added element

Andi 6:53

Yeah You're like missing

Tanner 6:54

was there like something about it being a football team with jerseys? Was there like a trick in there? You

Andi 7:00

also so it says football team. What sport did you think in your head when it said football team

Sups 7:04

It's sat T so I'm guessing everything is more us specific.

Andi 7:08

but I actually, because you were saying it I was like, oh, it's soccer. And then I was like,

Sups 7:13

oh no,

Andi 7:14

football.

Tanner 7:15

yeah okay. It's very international question.

Andi 7:18

a sport to you

Sups 7:19

Okay. All right. Onto question number. A company's manager estimated that the cost C in dollars of producing N number of items is C equal to seven N plus three 50. The company sells each item for $12. The company makes a profit. When the total income from selling a quantity of items is greater than the total cost of producing that quantity of items.

Tanner 7:49

makes

Andi 7:49

Yes That is the definition of profit

Sups 7:52

just

Tanner 7:53

making Yeah Yes check. That makes sense.

Sups 7:56

Given that's the situation, which of the following inequalities gives all possible values of end, for which the manager estimates that the company will make a profit. scratches

Tanner 8:11

out Yeah. keeping variables in my head. Oh boy.

Sups 8:15

And your options are N is less than 70 N is less than 84 N is greater than 70. And N is greater than 84

Tanner 8:27

Mm.

Sups 8:27

Right And the correct answer is option C where N is greater than 70.

Andi 8:32

Okay, great. Okay. So 70 times 12 is Lord 840, And seven times 70 is 490

Tanner 8:44

mm-hmm

Andi 8:45

plus 50.

Tanner 8:49

what?

Andi 8:51

I hope, I hope this is entertaining to listeners. Cause I,

Sups 8:54

is

Tanner 8:55

is amazing No that is eight 40.

Andi 8:56

This is extremely stressful. Yes. Okay Yeah. Okay. Okay. I did it. Yeah.

Tanner 9:03

Yeah. I could make that answer. Make sense.

Sups 9:06

okay. All right.

Tanner 9:07

I feel like it would be so helpful for me to like reword it in normal language rather than

Sups 9:13

test languages Yeah Yeah. But this is S a T language I mean this is straight from the question

Tanner 9:17

paper, right Yeah By the time you do that, you run outta time for the whole

Andi 9:20

test. Yeah. I do like how they defined profit for us. Like, Thank you

Sups 9:24

Yeah But I think that's also like the, tricky part to know. Okay. Why did they say this? Right. This was

Andi 9:29

was

Sups 9:29

needless. Like, okay, now I'm thinking about

Andi 9:32

it. It's also seems super

Sups 9:34

American.

Andi 9:35

I need to calculate how my maximum profits oh boy Like what is my margin

Tanner 9:39

love I love reading between the lines of all the test questions. Like. Is this like capitalist propaganda?

Sups 9:48

yeah. It's test plus

Tanner 9:50

water Yes Yes

Andi 9:51

yeah.

Sups 9:52

Okay. So let's move on to question number

Andi 9:55

Great See if we figured out that math

Sups 9:57

A light bulb manufacturer selects 500 bulbs from its factory at random and finds that their average lamp life has a 95%. Confidence interval of 1000 to 2000 hours. which of the following conclusions is the most appropriate based on the confidence interval. Option a 95% of all the manufacturers bulbs have a lamp life between 1000 and 2000 hours. option B. There is a 95% chance that a bulb made by the manufacturer has a lamp life between 1000 and 2000 hours. Option C the average lamp life of all the manufacturers, bulbs is likely between 1000 and 2000 hours. Option D there is a 95% chance that the average lamp life of all the manufacturers bulbs is between 1000 and 2000 hours.

Andi 10:59

Okay. Oh boy. Stats

Tanner 11:00

Oh boy

Sups 11:01

cans the answer is option C the average lamp life of all the manufacturers, bulbs is likely between 1000 and 2000 hours.

Andi 11:13

Okay. where's the 95.

Tanner 11:17

the confidence intervals,

Andi 11:18

My confidence interval for this question. is very low.

Tanner 11:24

not 95.

Andi 11:26

No. I don't think I remember this. No, no. I'm trying to puzzle it out

Tanner 11:32

But C is like the most vaguely worded. it sounds like it's the most catchall of all the terms, so it's like likely, so how can it be wrong?

Andi 11:41

Yeah. Exactly.

Tanner 11:42

But if the question is like, what's the most accurate, then there might be something that's more accurate without being wrong. Mm-hmm so that's why it's a tricky question.

Andi 11:52

Yeah. I have to say that my only reason of doubting is because of the strategy of, oh, these two are almost the same. So that makes me think that's one of them is the right answer. But maybe soups knows that I would think that. And so he would be like, oh, I'm gonna drop into they're almost the same, but are wrong. Right. They're almost the same, cuz they're both wrong.

Tanner 12:14

Right. These answer options are so closely

Andi 12:16

worded Yeah. I remember this as a concept. Yeah. But I don't remember how it

Tanner 12:20

works. It's like the difference between one word,

Andi 12:23

Yeah Is, is that the operative word, right Yeah, exactly. This is also extra embarrassing because my first degree is economics. And as part of that degree, I had to take advanced stats and I got an, a minus in advanced stats. I do not

Tanner 12:36

So at the time maybe you were 95%

Andi 12:38

Yes Oh yes. When I was, 20 and in college, I, I could have answered this easily just But now, like this isn't the field I work in anymore. So

Tanner 12:47

right do

Andi 12:47

do not

Sups 12:48

okay question number four. A researcher wanted to know if there is an association between exercise and sleep for the population of 16 year olds in the United States. She obtained survey responses from a random sample of 4,000 United States, 16 year olds, and found convincing evidence of a positive association between exercise and. which of the following conclusions is well supported by the data. Option a, there is a positive association between exercise and sleep for the 16 year olds in the United States. Option B. There is a positive association between exercise and sleep for 16 year olds in the world. Option C using exercise and sleep as defined by the. An increase in sleep is caused by an increase of exercise for 16 year olds in the United States. And option D using exercise and sleep as defined by the study and increase in sleep is caused by an increase of exercise for 16 year olds in the world. Okay. And the correct answer is option a, there is a positive association between exercise and sleep for 16 year olds in the United States.

Andi 14:08

Okay. So this one plays off of my strategy. This This ruins, my strategy throws it all out because there's two options that are the same. Yeah. Oh no.

Tanner 14:17

when he read the first answer, I was like, isn't that what you just said in the question?

Andi 14:21

no,

Tanner 14:22

how is that?

Andi 14:23

Not the right answer. I know. That's like trippy, right Because it's like, Wait, isn't that what you

Sups 14:28

just

Tanner 14:29

said? Yeah So then

Sups 14:30

you said

Tanner 14:30

yourself be

Andi 14:31

I mean, so much of this stuff is just psychological Yeah

Tanner 14:33

I think this answer is very believable. It seems like a stretch to say, well, they studied in the us. So you can say it true for all of the world. Like, nah, I don't think so.

Andi 14:42

Yeah. that's like some weird mental, like American gymnastics of like, thinking that whatever is true for us is true for everyone.

Tanner 14:49

Like

Andi 14:49

culture Yeah Yeah Ethnocentric, I guess is American in ethnicity. I

Tanner 14:54

But then the, the danger I see comes from the third and fourth answers because it's. Association, and then they're saying it's like the cause. Yeah. And so that's where the jump comes. Yeah. I think in like the news and stuff with studies.

Andi 15:10

Yeah, exactly. And I think what they're testing is like, what does it mean to have a positive correlation or association? cuz It's kind of logic almost. I think I remember doing these in like math class back in the day. Right.

Tanner 15:22

Yeah.

Andi 15:22

So I Yeah that one sounds okay. Yeah. But wow. That was stressful. I have some like

Sups 15:28

legs

Andi 15:29

like some some test anxiety now. So can you repeat the questions, the choices and the correct answers for us before we guess which one you lied to us about

Sups 15:40

right Question number one, the football team has jerseys numbered from 10 to 30. Everyone gets a Jersey and there are three left. How many people are on the football team, 23, 18 21 and 19. And the correct answer is option B 18. Question number two, a company's manager, estimated that the cost C in dollars of producing N items is C is equal to seven N plus three 50. The company sells each item for $12. The company makes a profit. When the total income from selling a quantity of items is greater than the total cost of producing that quantity of items, which of the following inequalities gives all possible values of N for which the manager estimates that the company will make a profit a, and is less than 70 B N is less than 80. C and is greater than 70 D and is greater than 84. And the right answer is option C and is greater than 70. Question number three, a light bulb manufacturer selects 500 bulbs from its factory at random and finds that their average lamp life has a 95% confidence interval of thousand to 2000 hours, which of the following conclusions is the most appropriate based on the confidence interval a 95% of all the manufacturers bulbs have a lamp life between thousand and 2000 hours. B there is a 95% chance that a bulb made by the manufacturer has a lamp life between thousand and 2000 hours. C the average lamp life of all the manufacturer bulbs is likely between thousand and 2000 hours. D there is a 95% chance that the average lamp life of all the manufacturers bulbs is between thousand and 2000 hours. And the right answer is option. Question number four, a researcher wanted to know if there is an association between exercise and sleep for the population of 16 year olds in the United States. She obtained survey responses from a random sample of 4,000 United States, 16 year olds, and found convincing evidence of a positive association between exercise and sleep, which of the following conclusions is well supported by the. a, there is a positive association between exercise and sleep for 16 year olds in the United States. B. There is a positive association between exercise and sleep for 16 year olds in the world. C using exercise and sleep as defined by the study and increase in sleep is caused by an increase of exercise for 16 year olds in the United States and D using exercise and sleep as defined by the study. And. Sleep is caused by an increase of exercise for 16 year olds in the world. And the correct answer is option a

Andi 18:58

Wow.

Tanner 18:59

One of those, the answer key is incorrect.

Andi 19:01

Yes. The teacher is trying to drag us this is cruel Mm-hmm Well, I have to say that one thing I've noticed is like going back to thinking about these tests and the advice, and even just hearing these questions is it's like maybe I overthink all of our eyes should have known facts too much. Because when I listen to all these, I was like, oh, that could be a place where it's a lie. That could be a place where it's a lie. Oh, no, this is exactly what you're not supposed to do on a standardized test. But yeah, I think he's lying about question three and again, solely because of my little trick mm-hmm if you will, about if two answers are nearly the same, the correct answer is one

Tanner 19:41

If not mm-hmm

Andi 19:41

Mm-hmm

Tanner 19:42

yeah, that's it. I'm dubious on three and on two, because I still can't really get the math right in my head for that to make

Andi 19:49

sense. Oh see, I have a much easier time. those are just

Tanner 19:53

right? Variables and equations and inequalities, doing all of that in my head. Yeah. While in a test is very, you

Andi 20:00

very bad at mental math. Yeah. I know this from personal experience like, and a lot of times I get annoyed with Tanner because if we're at the market I'll like do mental math, Tanner's like, no, wait, stop. You have to

Sups 20:10

to explain it

Andi 20:10

me

Tanner 20:11

Yes Yeah You feel that I think if three is wrong, it's the last answer option.

Andi 20:16

I honestly don't know. I'm just fairly confident that it's not C yeah. But it is a or D.

Tanner 20:22

Okay, Yeah. So you're gonna go with number three. And either a or D? I also think it's number three and I think it's D

Andi 20:30

Okay.

Sups 20:31

Wow. Okay. it's question number three. And you think it's D yeah. And Andy, you think it's either a or D, The good thing is. Both of you are

Andi 20:41

right. Yes Yeah Technically we're both right? no

Sups 20:45

D is the correct answer. Yeah. Because if you think about it, the question talks about average. Yeah. Option D says there is a 95% that the average lamp life of all the manifests. So doesn't matter whether you pick 500 at random or thousand at random, whatever's the average because you're picking at random So. congratulations to both of you. I mean

Tanner 21:07

next time I take a standardized test. Can we do it in groups? Yeah, I think

Sups 21:11

I think so

Andi 21:12

really helps to

Sups 21:13

through,

Andi 21:13

through. Yeah, Yeah. All right. You did great soups, but that was stressful.

Tanner 21:19

yeah,

Andi 21:21

but really fun. and I should have known, I

Tanner 21:24

should have known,

Sups 21:24

I should have known.

Andi 21:26

Thanks for listening to this episode of the, I should have known podcast. We will be doing more back to school. Episodes for this month. be prepared for that. And if you are smarty pants and got it right, be sure to send it to your friends and see if you are actually smarter than them. And as always. Thanks, ING. I cheated in freshman math.