TEACHING ASSISTANT STORIES

I had an autistic brainlet TA in an algebra class that was splitting hairs about the terminology I used to prove lagrange's theorem. He always used to mark Xs on things but provide full marks because he's a giant pussy.

I used my version on the exam.

>all of that is fine BUT IT'S NOT BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
it absolutely is, in any context, it's like you have no idea how mathematicians talk and write
you can express yourself however the fuck you want as long as the crucial ingredients of the proof are laid down well and easy to see

>you can express yourself however the fuck you want
No, sorry, you're wrong. If he were right, he wouldn't have gotten an x.

>student writes "the polynomial [math] e^x = \sum_{i\geq 0} \frac{x^n}{n!} [/math]..." in their otherwise correct homework write up
>deduct one mark
>student complains

you gave him an meaningless X that amounts to
>I DONT LIKE THIS BUT I CANT SUBTRACT SHIT BECAUSE MY OPINION IS TRASH BUT HERE'S AN X ANYWAY
honestly, there's NOTHING controversial about the way he expressed it. i've seen much, much worse from very good mathematicians

a meaningless*

Sorry, I just can't trust some brainlet who isn't capable to differentiate between a/an.

>i've seen much, much worse from very good mathematicians

Such as? Not that I trust you.

there's a particularly colorful example in the front of my mind, but I'd rather not break anonymity

I really don't believe you've read much math at all if "divides G into n parts" strikes you as informal to the point of being off, honestly.

How are you master studies? How are your studies on Langlands program going, brainlet?

I'm clearly not making as much progress on my thesis as I should because I shitpost too much

Good luck, I'm cheering for you. Prove to the world that even the biggest trashcan can overcome their trashcanness and become God algebraists.

>Go do that on an exam, you fucking edgelord, and see how that goes.

No one would care. If it is obvious what you are talking about, then fussing over vocabulary is retarded.

Meh I waited until the last minute and wrote mine in a month, and successfully defended

You'll be fine

>"... since the cosets divide G up into n parts ..
Did they say that each part has the same size at least?

Give them half credit next time, you pansy. This was one of my favorite parts about TAing. They literally have no room to complain, and if they do, laugh them out. You have to be strict or else you'll end up with dummies like
who develop bad habits. This is why US unis are a joke

Like him, I mean

My prof would have eaten me up for doing stuff like in OP's example

Nigga you just called dat nigga a trashcan.

Shiiieeeeeeeeeettttt

>He always used to mark Xs on things but provide full marks because he's a giant pussy.
i do this too, only when the mistake is something irrelevant in the big picture of the argument

>It doesn't "divide" G. It doesn't touch G.

Not that big of a deal. It's a common issue.

I see that a few times every semester when I teach intro Abstract Algebra. It's not worth taking a point off over, but just clarify it for them next time.

Fucks sake, I did it when I took undergrad AND grad algebra lol

As a french TA, i used to write "IMOSEF" when that happend. It's an acronym of what could be translated in "Incorrect but we don't care". Only had to explain one or two times at the beginning of the class what it reammy meant and it was okay. Student where very comprehensive of this and tried to fix that the next time.
At some point, it became so "emblematic" of my classes that they offered me, for my birthday, a red ink pad spelling IMOSEF, so i'd save time by stamping their papers instead of writing it.
I still use it today.

>TA for undergraduate Biology lab
>it's mostly a class full of freshmen, and it's all babbys first time writing an intro college scientific paper
>students use slang on their paper
>some refuse to even press F7 to correct their shitty grammar

Best of all, the other TAs made a rubric on what information is put into which portion of the paper

>multiple students put cookbook directions in methods
>many fuse their discussion into all portions
>some don't even perform a statistical analysis and state "results statistically significant"
>many students don't even reference one damn thing
>and still, some students just bullshit about anecdotes as evidence

I'm starting to think that having half a class of dumbasses by sheer chance alone isn't possible, I blame their high school education

(WASU)

I've never heard the word "cell" used that way. I would call the cosets "parts of a partition". Simply calling them "parts" without using the word "partition" is overly informal though, especially if this is intro undergrad algebra.

At that low level, they're barely learning to write formal proofs and they need to be hammered on the formality aspect. Later on in your mathematical career it's OK to be less formal if you're among other people who know what they're doing.

cute

>TA for dynamics
>maybe 10 people or so come to my recitation
>one guy shows up sporadically, always look high
>gets C's on tests, maybe lower
>starts coming in towards end of the semester near the final
>I'm helping out with some homework
>he calls me over
>sounds kinda sad
>"heh.. yea... I don't really get this stuff.. I usually just chegg it for the answer"
>help him find the next steps to a problem
>"man.. i really need an A on this final to pass this class.. it's the second time I've taken it"
>"you'll be fine, just study"
>he stops coming to recitation
>final rolls around
>43

ya fuck that kid

>Grading Gen Chem 1 midterms
>Question: Element X is composed of 96% an isotope with 200 protons and 400 neutrons, 3% with 401 neutrons, and 1% with 399 neutrons. What is the standard atomic mass of element X?

Some answers I got:
"There is no element X on the periodic table so this question has an error"

"Did you mean xenon? *copied xenon mass from reference periodic table*"

"the average of 399, 400, and 401 is 400, so 400" (I gave a pity point for this)

And in lab:
People can never figure out how to do the basic calculations and it drives me crazy. How many times do I have to explain how to use M1V1 = M2V2? Often the instructions for the lab we do that week includes example calculations with made up data, to show you how to do them. At least one student a week Mixes up the example data with their own. For example, the made up data in the example calc is "you weigh out 400 mg of a compound with molar mass 50 g/mol and dissolve it in 100 ml of water", and it shows you how to calculate the concentration. The student measured 423 mg of the compound and used 92.3 ml of water, but their calculation shows 423 mg with 100 ml of water. Then they complain "if 100 ml was wrong, why is it in the book???"

baito desu

Thats fucking cool they got you a stamp

Teaching chems pretty easy I find, a lot more common sence you can draw on than other subjects, especially in the labs

>Question: Element X is composed of 96% an isotope with 200 protons and 400 neutrons, 3% with 401 neutrons, and 1% with 399 neutrons. What is the standard atomic mass of element X?
I don't know much about chemistry but isn't this just a elementary school level algebra problem?

>orgo Chem lab
>tell students to use dichloromethane as a solvent in this reaction
>some kid is pacing around with his glassware looking all misplaced like his head was spinning
>ask him what's wrong
>he hasn't started the reaction yet because he can't find the dichloromethane saying all we had were bottles labeled methylene chloride

It's basically can you calculate a weighed % average

Essentially it is, yes, but
A: A lot of people are still too stupid to do elementary school algebra
B: Some of the students don't realize that "standard atomic mass" means "the fucking weighted average"

My gen bio TA said my report was pleasure to read, I thought she was just being overly nice but I wouldn't be surprised if reading a paper that actually had statistical analysis, citations, etc. is a breath of fresh air

To be fair, thats not that huge of a mistake. Tons of Ochem names are borderline arbitrary despite the existence of IUPAC.

This is why everybody hates OChem. Too much arbitrary memorization. Dichloromethane? Sure, that's systematic. But Methylene Chloride? To me, that implies CH3-Cl, not CH2-Cl2.

Actually the -ene suffix implies that two hydrogens are present on the carbon. If it is methyl chloride, then three hydrogens are implied.

I remember this (jewish) kid in orgo lab would always forget that DCM is heavier than water during extractions. No matter how many times the TA reminded him this, the kid would still dump out his organic layer and complain about losing his synthesis product.

>student complains
Rightfully so...

Also any """"""""TA""""""""" who isn't using \displaystyle for his \sums needs to get shot.

Why do western countries use the ABCD system for grades? It's so vague! Why not just state the student's score out of 100?

>Why do western countries use the ABCD system for grades?
They dont...

I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes I want to strangel students especially when they complain and I already scored them higher then they should get. Reeeeeeee

I'm pretty sure they do...

I am living In a western country and I have never received a letter as a grade...

Oh, cool. Maybe it's an American thing?

Possibly, but I wouldnt know.

>have a huge nmr machine in school
>one day someone was trying to use it but the previous user forgot to remove his sample
>the student thought everything was normal so he went to put his sample on the top of the machine
>little did he know the sample already in there meant the air wasn't flowing. The student dropped his sample into the machine and it smashed the sample below Spewing deuterated solvent all over the inside.
>the facilities manager made me clean it out
>scrubbing and scrubbing didn't fix the column, I kept seeing glucose on the fucking nmr for weeks

>Be TA-ing advanced synthesis lab
>someone accidentally poured a peroxide solution into the organic waste container
>had to evacuate the school
>kid expelled

People get expelled for lab accidents? Seriously?

I understand peroxides react with organic compounds into instable explosives, correct?

I once said [math]S_3 < S_4[/math], as to say the symmetric group of order 3 is a subgroup of the symmetric group of order 4. I got my ass chewed out for saying that, since the subgroup isn't technically the third symmetric group.

of 3 elements and of 4 elements*
not of order 3 and 4, sorry.

are all mathematics students insufferable pedants?

Of course they are. Being rigorous and pedantic is the point of mathematics.

you can clearly be one without the other.Which is to say you can be unambiguous without being pedantic.

>you can clearly be one without the other
Not really the point of mathematics is to be very accurate about everything and make sure that everything you say is water proof.

Being pedantic about everything is something which is encouraged because it is a necessary skill.

Have you been to a math lecture?
The students will correct the lecturer even if it is obvious and small mistake and the lecturer will always apologize for the mistake.

water proof? I don't think it needs to be presented in a form which is truly waterproof, oftentimes it is sufficient that it can be obviously made waterproof with minimal difficulty.

As for mathematics lectures, small mistakes are one thing, but the quibble OP was describing was far smaller than that, not even a proper mistake really, something so minor only a fool would even bother to correct someone on it.

>it is sufficient that it can be obviously made waterproof with minimal difficulty.
That is also known as water proof.

I also was never arguing about whether OP was justified, I just tried to explain to you that being pedantic is something common among people who study mathematics.

known as waterproof? if it can be easily or obviously made waterproof then details were clearly omitted in the first place, and it wasn't pedantry to begin with.

a PARTition is a division in PARTs

a correct picture with the correct explanation of how a proof goes is much more enlightening than the whole proof often, and it's satisfactory enough

TATP is an extremely dangerous explosive. Forms when acetone and peroxide reacts.

Why are there so many kids like this?

I'm with you bro, the fact people agree with this shit is triggering my autism

>Rightfully so...
why?