Perhaps you’ve heard about the infamous “crocodile problem” from the Scottish “Higher Maths Exam” (which I gather is something like the AP Exam, but administered in a delightful brogue). It’s a basic optimization problem that nevertheless stumped so many test takers that the grading authority had to set a passing exam score to just 34%. Here it is, in all its reptilian glory:
Oddly enough, the same problem was administered here in America with some slight changes, and students did much better on it.
