The Geek Forum
Main Forums => Anarchy => Topic started by: Jaepheth on February 23, 2008, 04:47:18 PM
-
Let it be known that I have on this day, February 23rd in the year 2008, passed my first Actuary exam.
:-D
-
(http://cupcakesforclara.typepad.com/cupcakes_for_clara/images/2007/06/01/congratulations.jpg)
-
Congratulations indeed Jaepheth.
*Now that I looked it up to see what it was.*
-
psst.. dcrog.. i did the same thing!
-
psst.. dcrog.. i did the same thing!
Well at least we're willing to admit it.
-
Congrats, though I too had to find out what it was :P.
-
Congrats, though I too had to find out what it was :P.
shhh! ;)
-
Congrats!!
thanks, google and wikipedia!
-
Kickass dude! Am I the only one who knew what it was? Didn't y'alls have to take statistics in college?
-
I knew, but I wasn't as impress as those who posted above.
Still, j0rb w3ll d0n3.
-
What are the odds, eh?
Don't answer that!
Grats!
-
Con
Grats!
-
Seriously, what are the odds?
-
It's really hard to say.
The inner workings of how the exam is graded is mostly kept secret.
What is known is that The Society of Actuaries determines a certain pass mark, and the exams meeting that requirement pass.
Exam P consists of 30 multiple choice probability questions with 5 options each, and you have 3 hours in which to complete them. The questions are drawn from a pool of questions. Since the questions are reused from year to year, the probability of getting a specific question right is statistically known. If you draw a lot of easy questions you must answer more of them correctly to pass, or if you draw a lot of hard questions you need to get fewer of them correct.
I'm also told that some questions are being tested and so are thrown into the question pool in order to get the probability of people getting them correct. These questions don't count toward your score, and there's no way to tell it from a question that does count.
But if you assume 30 equally weighted questions with a probability of 1/5 of getting any one right (random guessing) and a 60% needed to pass (18 questions right) then the probability of passing is (1 - the binomial CDF at 17). On the exam, I'd approximate it with a normal distribution and continuity correction with mean 30*1/5 and variance 30*1/5*4/5, but now I can use a spreadsheet with a binomial function, and it tells me that the probability is 1.842*10^-6
Making the odds 542,755 to 1 against.
But if you study enough to make the probability of getting any 1 question correct .5, then the odds improve to about 5 to 1 against
-
well, there you have it.
-
Math talk!! You're gunna make Detta get all hot.
e=mc2
-
Don't get all radical on us.
-
Time to prime up for another one of these threads.
-
What do you mean?
-
No. Threads such as this are divisive.
-
But they're an integral part of the board's identity.
-
Dude, don't be irrational. We must strive to maintain a positive, well-rounded environment here. Pun threads are but a fraction of the overall content, yet their negative impact is disproportionately lar...
waitaminute... that's not punning -- that's MATH TALK!
-
It could just be imaginary.
-
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! :D
Love it.
I knew what it was, cause I took that test. And it was fucking hard.
-
Also, we had a quiz on simplifying radicals the other day. On the board, in the list of things to do today I put, "Totally Radical Quiz". They weren't that amused.
-
When you do polar coordinates be sure to tell them that it's one bear of a test.
-
Isn't the bear pun thread hibernating? Would it be rational to add both pun threads together? Bear with me here, I hope it won't be too grizzly! I'm in my prime!
-
I would conjecture that it's probably best if the pun threads remained disconnected.
I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.
-
Although the angles are corresponding and the threads are similar, they just are not congruent. I agree, they should remain as mutually exclusive events.
-
Yes, have sum.
-
You know, this thread reminds me of a story I once heard...
There were three medieval kingdoms on the shores of a lake. There was an island in the middle of the lake, over which the kingdoms had been fighting for years. Finally, the three kings decided that they would send their knights out to do battle, and the winner would take the island. The night before the battle, the knights and their squires pitched camp and readied themselves for the fight. The first kingdom had 12 knights, and each knight had five squires, all of whom were busily polishing armor, brushing horses, and cooking food. The second kingdom had twenty knights, and each knight had 10 squires. Everyone at that camp was also busy preparing for battle. At the camp of the third kingdom, there was only one knight, with his squire. This squire took a large pot and hung it from a looped rope in a tall tree. He busied himself preparing the meal, while the knight polished his own armor. When the hour of the battle came, the three kingdoms sent their squires out to fight (this was too trivial a matter for the knights to join in). The battle raged, and when the dust had cleared, the only person left was the lone squire from the third kingdom, having defeated the squires from the other two kingdoms, thus proving that the squire of the high pot and noose is equal to the sum of the squires of the other two sides.
-
Hooray for grade 8 math lessons!
-
Detta should use that in her class.
-
Actually, it would seem to me that the squire of the high pot and noose is greater than the sum of the squires of the other two sides.
That would be an obtuse triangle.
-
Mmmm...high pot.
-
OBTUSE! Like me!
-
Me too, I'm definitely not acute.