JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
A DIAGNOSTIC TEST IN SIMPLE MATHEMATICS FREDERIC C. SCHMIDT and CHRISTIAN E. KASLOW Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
HIGH-SCHOOL administrators and teachers of mathematics are in general quite unaware of the kind of mathematics preparation necessary for those students who are going to the colleges and universities for the purpose of studying in the physical sciences. The majority intend to take the premedical curriculum with a scattering in chemistry and physics as their major subject. Those who do elect the course prescribed by the medical schools will 'take primarily general chemistry, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, and organic chemistry. The first three of these subjects require much arithmetic, a fair amount of algebra, and the use of logarithms and exponentials. Even the reasoning in portions of organic chemistry is mathematical in nature, requiring the same logic as does plane geometry. The authors feel therefore that there is a close correlation between a student's performance in mathematics and his ability to think chemically. In order to have a talking point with the counselors of the hieh schools and aid in advising the student in the first-year courses, we have devised a simple test in mathematics. We talk over the results of the test with each individual student who does poorly and suggest means of improving his technique in handling the processes in which he is weak. Students in the beginning courses in chemistry have their greatest difficukies G t h problems i n v o ~ v &the ~
gas laws, concentrations of solutions, and equilibria involving ions. Students generally fail not from a lack of understanding of the principles involved but from inability to handle the so-called "math" involved. We have found the test in simple mathematics valuable in diagnosing the student's mathematical troubles and indicating specifically where he needs help. Reports have been given to the State's Association of High School Mathematics Teachers and they have cooperated with us in giving the prospective student of the physical sciences a better background. The complete test, with a total of 20 questions, is given in 45 minutes and can he arranged for use in an IBM machine or hand-corrected. An illustrative sample of the questions is given below. is larger than 2.4 x 24 x loq, 2.5 x 65 x lo-', 2.0 x lo-", 2.3 x lo*. (2) The logarithm t o base 10 of 1/1WO is: 1000, -3.0, -2.0,4.0, 10.4. 10-'(x) = 1 x (3) ~ a l c u l a t ex. 3 lo-", 1 x 1 X lo-" .--.*
