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The 2 questions can be found at this link:
http://www.studyworks.com/index.cfm?action=practice&drill=sample&id=18

I understand the ! symbol and can see it on the test but how about the ñ (N tilde) sign. I have wondered if it could be bad HTML coding on the website. I have emailed them but did not get any answers. Any ideas?

Question 1:
6! ñ 4! = ?

A. 2
B. 11
C. 24
D. 30
E. 44

Question 2
W + B = 17
B ñ W = 22

Column A -4W
Column B 10

A. if Column A is larger
B. if Column B is larger
C. if the columns are equal
D. if there is not enough information to decide

Question 3:
Column A 20!-10!
Column B 10!

A. if Column A is larger
B. if Column B is larger
C. if the columns are equal
D. if there is not enough information to decide


To avoid losing time, the answers are
1. 30
2. Columns are equal
3. A is larger

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 03:21 pm: Edit

The third one definitely. I'm not sure what the "n" with a tilda in the first two problems mean. Usually when you see weird symbols like that, they first define what it does.

By Incognito (Incognito) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 03:25 pm: Edit

did the question say anything about the tilda and what its function was?...

By Mattymatt (Mattymatt) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 03:36 pm: Edit

si.. b i think

By Mattymatt (Mattymatt) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 03:37 pm: Edit

si.. a i think

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 04:04 pm: Edit

I copied the COMPLETE text of the question as it was given on the Study Works website. You can click the link given in the original post but there is no additional information.

Also, it does not appear to be a "defined" problem since nothing of the sort was mentioned. I have read that the "N Tilde" can be used in Calculus but it would extremely doubtful to be used on a SAT test and is probably irrelevant. I wish they would answer the email I sent. It is annoying not to know

By the way, the trial test at the Study Works is more difficult than the typical 10 Real SAT.

By Sar (Sar) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 06:13 pm: Edit

I think the "n" with a tilda is supposed to be a dividing symbol. Y'know, the one with the two dots above and below a horizontal line...

The first problem works that way, but not the second if the answer is correct.

the "!" symbol is the factorial symbol: whenever it shows up after a number, you multiply every number consecutively smaller than that number by each other, beginning from the number itself down to the number 1.

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 06:35 pm: Edit

Indeed, in the first problem, one can replace N tilde by the "divide" sign and get to the suggested answer.

In the second problem, if we replace Ntilde by a simple negative sign, we also find the suggested answer. The equations would be

-2.5 + 19.5 = 17
19.5 - (-2.5) = 22

I am starting to think that it was just careless posting by that website. Oh well, at least, they made us "think" outside the box.