Troubleshooting WAMAP

By Greg Slease

Contents

Introduction

Section 1: General Tips and Tricks

a. The Drop Down Menu
b. The Preview Button

Section 2: Some Common Issues encountered in a Variety of Classes

a. Parentheses: When, Where, and How Many?
b. Fractions vs. Decimals
c. Numbers vs. Algebraic Expressions
d. Trig Functions of Degree>1
e. Inverse Trig Functions
f. Rounding
g. Question Phrasing

Section 3: Class Specific Issues

a. MATH&141: Graphing
b. MATH&142: Order of Terms in an Answer
c. MATH&146: Why does WAMAP Care About a One Ten-Thousandth of a Percent Error?
d. MATH&152: +C

Section 4: Faulty Questions

Introduction

This Tutorial is designed as a guide to help students troubleshoot commonly encountered issues when doing homework in WAMAP. While not all possible issues will be covered, we will discuss frequently asked questions regarding answer submission in WAMAP. The issues we will cover have been reported as commonly encountered problems by students, tutors, and math professors.

Section 1: General Tips and Tricks

a. The Drop Down Menu

On some questions, the author may enable a drop down menu that can act as a template and/or a guide for how to submit your answers. If there is ever any doubt about syntax in your mind, heck this menu.

b. Preview

Many questions will also feature a preview button next to the answer submission box. Whenever possible, it is a good idea to take a quick look at the preview before you submit an answer. This will show you exactly how WAMAP is interpreting your submission, and it can catch some mistakes before they are made. For example, say your answer is a function in terms of “x,” but you made a typo and accidentally typed “z” instead. The preview feature will catch this and alert you to the issue.

Section 2: Some Common Issues encountered in a Variety of Classes

a. Parentheses: When, Where, and How Many?

Parentheses are a big deal in WAMAP, and in mathematics in general. There are a lot of situations in which parentheses can make or break your answer. Sometimes when we write down an answer on paper, it may make sense to skip the seemingly repetitive parentheses, but when it comes to electronic answer submission, they are vital. As a general rule of thumb, more parentheses is typically a good idea, but there are a lot of exceptions to this. Let’s take a look at an answer that might make sense to us without parentheses, but that WAMAP sees as something completely different.

In this example, not including parentheses in the numerator results in WAMAP completely misinterpreting the answer. Now let’s check out that same problem, this time with all of the necessary parentheses.

b. Fractions vs. Decimals

Knowing when to use fractions and when to use decimals is an important skill in WAMAP. Some questions will explicitly state whether they require an answer as one r the other, but many others will not. In general, it is often not a bad idea to use fractions, because they are in general more accurate. That being said, the most important thing when given numerical answers is to check whether or not the question specifies a format.

c. Numbers vs. Algebraic Functions

WAMAP is designed as a dynamic program that can not only check and accept answers, but perform some calculations for you. This feature an sometimes be used to avoid possible errors. For example, let’s say that you can calculate the answer to a question by subtracting 1/4 from 1/3. If the questions specifically asks for your answer as a fraction, decimal, or number, you will need to do this calculation on your own. However, if no specific format is given, it is frequently possible to simply enter “1/3-1/4” as your answer, and WAMAP will be able to do the subtraction for you, thus eliminating possible rounding and/or arithmetic errors.

d. Trig Functions of Degree>1

Another common requirement is to enter trigonometric functions whose degree is greater than one. For example, we may need to enter an answer like . The impulse here may be to enter “sin^2(x)” into WAMAP, however this will not be interpreted correctly. The best way to go about entering an answer like this is “(sin(x))^2.”

e. Inverse Trig Functions

Now that we know how to enter , let’s take a look at how to enter an inverse trig function like arc tangent, cosine inverse, etc. In most math classes, we could use expressions such as “” and “” interchangeably. However, WAMAP will only accept one of these. Entering “(tan(x))^-1” will not work. Regardless of the trig function in question, the inverse must be entered as the “arc” version (e.g. ![equation], , , etc).

f. Rounding

Moving back to numerical answers for a moment, let’s talk about rounding. Rounding can be a bit of a challenge in WAMAP due to the variety of authors of questions. Some authors may specifically say “round to the nearest 3 decimal places,” or “round to the nearest whole number,” while others may not be quite as straightforward. If the question does specify, always round exactly as far as the question requires. If the question does not specify how far to round your answer, it is best not to round at all. In cases like this, you’ll want to either type out as many digits as your calculating device gives you, or if possible, simply enter an exact answer. Exact vs. approximate answers will be discussed in the next section.

g. Question Phrasing

One of the most important parts of succeeding in WAMAP homework is the ability to carefully read the entire question. Some questions may initially appear to be asking for one thing, but are actually asking for something entirely different. When in doubt, always reread the question. One of the most frequent examples of how skimming a question can be detrimental is actually directly related to the section above regarding rounding. Some questions will not accept a rounded answer; only exact answers are allowed. For example, say a question is asking us to find the exact circumference of a circle of radius 1. We could estimate the answer to this question via a decimal approximation, but this would not be exact. While an answer like “6.283185307” is very close to the exact answer, you really can’t get more exact here than just “2pi.”

Section 3: Class Specific Issues

a. MATH&141: Graphing

Graphing on WAMAP can be a bit of a challenge, and there’s not really a whole lot to see here, save for one piece of advise: the bigger the screen you can do problems like this on, the easier it is to get it right.

b. MATH&142: Order of Terms in an Answer

We’ve covered a few issues that we might run into trying to enter trig functions, but let’s address one additional very rare problem that can arise in MATH&142. Occasionally, some problems may reject a correct answer due to the in which it was entered. For example, the correct answer might be may be “,” but the question responds that it is wrong. In cases like this, if you are sure of your answer, it may be worth trying to retype it as “.” If this works, contact your instructor as soon as possible, because this is an indicator that the problem is has an error in its coding. In reality, these answers are the same, and there is no mathematical rule that states one is preferable to the other.

c. MATH&146: Why Does WAMAP Care About a One Ten-Thousandth of a Percent Error?

A common problem you may come across in a WAMAP based Statistics class that tends to arise in the unit about hypothesis testing is that you may be penalized for seemingly negligible errors (e.g. being off by 0.0001). While this seems trivial, this small error is actually an indicator that you may have used the wrong test on your calculator. It is difficult to make a judgement about what type of error this is in the absence of a specific situation, but a good rule of thumb is to try using your second guess for a hypothesis test.

d. MATH&152: +C

In Calculus II, the concept of an indefinite integral is introduced. A part of correctly answering these question (both written and in WAMAP) is to be sure to include the “+C” term at the end of your answer. After doing worksheets, quizzes, tests, etc. in class, it can become second nature to simply follow up your answer to such a problem by always adding the “+C.” While this is a good habit to get into, it’s important to always check the answer box to make sure that it is necessary. Some question may already have the “+C” dded to the answer for you, while others may require you to type it out yourself.

Section 4: Faulty Questions

Though most questions work fine, you may occasionally run into a question that seems to not be able to accept a correct answer (see section 3b for an example). In cases like this, it is possible that the question has an error in its coding. If you encounter this issue, it is important to contact your instructor about it, as they may be able to contact the author to correct the issue.

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