Can you help me with this maths problem?

[MathsMagpie]

Or explain where to start?

What a crazy way of showing data. And weird question.

I can’t see 12 texts in the left-hand column, so the answer must be zero.

Watch the worked example…

0 was my first answer and it says incorrect. The worked example won’t play!

If you add up the amounts in the frequency column, it sums to 40, so nobody sent 12 texts. Answer must be zero!

I can't see how you can predict how many children sent 12 texts from the information given about how many children sent between 4 and 8 texts.

Of course, now I realise you can if the total number of texts is given...

This makes sense.

The little pies add up to 40 so all pupils are accounted for, and therefore none of them sent 12. Answer is 0

19?

The circle represents 4 according to the key so the one with two circles (8 ) and I half circle (2 ) is correct as 8 plus 2 is 10.

5 is the correct answer

But it wants the frequency (ie how many pupils) sent 12 texts. @DuckBushCityLimit's logic is right and I agree it must be 0

Are they asking something completely different - like how many multiples of 12 texts were sent across the whole class?

It must be zero anyway surely as if there were more than zero children left over from the other frequencies you would have no way of knowing how many sent 12 texts, they might have sent 13, or 142 or 3 million, for all we know.

It’s definitely not 0 it bounces back as incorrect. Another example of a Q in this pack. Bizarre!

12 pupils (f) sent 5 texts. (not 12 texts were sent by 5 people).

In this example frequency is number of pupils, not number of texts.

I agree that 0 people sent 12 texts.

What level is this question meant to be?

Year 8

22 seconds? 22 hours would be more realistic with these bizarre questions.

It doesn't quite make sense, how is frequency a number of pupils?

I think the answer is 0. If the answer isn't zero, it's a very weirdly worded question.

I despair of the way they teach maths these days, I really do.

I have taught year 8 Maths. I don’t agree with these questions.

In the second question the number of pictures of open books is 14 and a half. There are 29 pupils, one open book per 2 pupils therefore everyone is accounted for in the table.

22 seconds is beyond the table so the frequency is again 0.

Could you give us the website link? Perhaps it’s a subscriber-only one, though.

Is it Doctor Frost Maths?

https://www.drfrost.org/downloadables.php?noid=133

If it is, their PDF of frequency tables is quite normal so these questions seem even weirder.

Isn't it saying that a full circle is 4. One person is a quarter circle. 12 would be OOO. It's not an option there, the frequencies don't go high enough. You're just recognising the pattern?

I’m not sure I’m afraid, it’s a friend’s daughter’s homework!

Is it Sparx or Dr Frost? There's an error in the question, as in the code is generating the wrong number. If the page has a "report question" button, now is the time to use it! And if the maths teacher gets grumpy, email them the picture!
(from a maths teacher who hates Sparx)

Maths is taught great these days. I am a maths teacher. I just wouldn’t give this question to my students because it makes no sense. It has nothing to do with how maths is taught.