India: Engineers Fail Basic Math
Announcement posted by DesignBuild Source 10 May 2012
India Engineering
Imagine, for a moment, you hired a civil, mechanical or construction engineer to work on a large scale infrastructure project.
Now imagine you asked him the following problem: “Rajeev has a bag full of 20 bananas and no other fruit. He reaches in and draws a piece of fruit from the bag. What is the probability that he will draw a banana?”
Most likely, you would expect your new recruit to be able to answer correctly.
In India, however, that may not be the case. In a recent study by Aspiring Minds, an Indian-based research organisation that assesses various aspects of education, training and employment throughout that country, roughly 30 per cent of graduating engineering students last year were unable to solve that problem.
The problem is not limited to probability equations. Overall, the study found that one-third of last year’s graduates were unable to perform simple mathematic functions such as counting and arranging, and that graduates had a weak understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as decimals, powers, operations, ratios and fractions as well as a lack of ability to apply such concepts to real-world problems.
Given the importance of basic maths in engineering work, this is obviously a significant problem....
Continue Reading
Now imagine you asked him the following problem: “Rajeev has a bag full of 20 bananas and no other fruit. He reaches in and draws a piece of fruit from the bag. What is the probability that he will draw a banana?”
Most likely, you would expect your new recruit to be able to answer correctly.
In India, however, that may not be the case. In a recent study by Aspiring Minds, an Indian-based research organisation that assesses various aspects of education, training and employment throughout that country, roughly 30 per cent of graduating engineering students last year were unable to solve that problem.
The problem is not limited to probability equations. Overall, the study found that one-third of last year’s graduates were unable to perform simple mathematic functions such as counting and arranging, and that graduates had a weak understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as decimals, powers, operations, ratios and fractions as well as a lack of ability to apply such concepts to real-world problems.
Given the importance of basic maths in engineering work, this is obviously a significant problem....
Continue Reading