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Question: Asking for the equation of a circle

Question:Asking for the equation of a circle

George Kinnear 60
format
July 30 2008
0
I'd like to have a question which gives information about a circle, and asks students to enter the correct equation. I don't mind whether the equation is in the form (x-a)^2+(y-b)^2=r^2, or the expanded-out version. Here are some ways I've tried to do this, and why I'm not happy with them! 1. Using the "Equation" question type. This lets you specify the "answer" as an equation, and the student gets a nice box to type their answer in, explaining that it should be an equation that they enter. However, the checking algorithm doesn't allow for entering the equation in the factorised or expanded form - it has to be one or the other. 2. Using a Maple-graded question with "type=formula". This is a non-starter, as it seems that the $RESPONSE variable is empty when grading such a question; I assume this is because TA doesn't allow the = sign in a formula. It also seems that any response containing an = sign is automatically graded 0. 3. Using a Maple-graded question without "type=formula". I haven't really tried to implement this, so it might work. However, without "type=formula", students would need to be very careful to enter 2*x rather than 2x whenever things like that arose. 4. Using a Maple-graded question with "type=formula" inline, asking them to complete "blank = 0". First off, this is not ideal. Secondly, the result looks ugly because the blank has buttons on the right side for opening the preview, etc. So I've ended up asking them to complete "0=blank". I think this is just adding confusion to what should be a simple question. If anyone knows of a neater way to do this, I'd be glad to hear it. In the long run, it won't just be for the equation of a circle either; it would be nice to be able to ask for other types of equation in the future.
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