Chris Smolinski wrote:

>> Look, if the proper answer is 25 kWh and I write 25 kW, I'm wrong, as
>> surely as if I'd written 25 mph or yellow or Marie Antoinette.  In
>> fact, I'd argue that it's more important that the proper UNITS pop out
>> at the end than that the proper number does.  Proper units shows
>> diligence and understanding of base concepts.  Proper maths shows good
>> calculator skills.
> 
> The solution is what one of my physics profs did. You showed all your
> work in solving the problems on the exam, all of the steps. If you made
> a stupid blunder part way through, you lost partial points. He was more
> concerned in making sure that you understood the principles involved,
> than whether you made some trivial math error. 

Exactly. If you make your intermediate calculations without units, you
should fail the exam right away, IMO. (Of course, this would lead to the
quick adoption of the SI even in non-SI countries, but is this really a
reason not to do so? :)

If you make your calculations with the proper units throughout, the missing
'h' at the end can easily be identified as minor typo (writo?). If OTOH the
sequence of units in your calcs shows that you don't have a clue about the
difference...

> Yes, I agree that in the real world (as in the case of the Mars
> Observer), you don't get partial credit, it's all or nothing. 

I disagree somewhat. There are partial credits in the real world. There is
a difference between something that simply doesn't work (the "no credit"
situation), and something that doesn't work, but most of the internal
infrastructure is there and just some minor blunders keep it from working
(the "partial credit" situation). The latter is (for me, at least) almost
the best-case scenario :)

Gerhard

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