Mission Possible C

[olympiaddict]

Let me clarify what I meant when I said ambiguous, I meant that it was worded in such a way that misinterpretation was fairly likely to take place at least by some people.

[Flavorflav]

How are may use only two and may only use two different? They have the same meaning for me...

Apologies, but that is kind of sad. In the first case "only" is an adjective modifying "two," as in "just two" (i.e., two or more). In the second, it is an adverb modifying "may use," indicating that no other use is acceptable. It's not actually ambiguous at all.

[olympiaddict]

How are may use only two and may only use two different? They have the same meaning for me...

Apologies, but that is kind of sad. In the first case "only" is an adjective modifying "two," as in "just two" (i.e., two or more). In the second, it is an adverb modifying "may use," indicating that no other use is acceptable. It's not actually ambiguous at all.

Being insulting isn't necessary, especially coming from a coach.

[Balsa Man]

Sorry, I have to stand up for Flavorflav here.
There is nothing "insulting" in the statement.

"Apologies" - nothing insulting there
"That is kind of sad" - nothing insulting to iwonder there; opinion-nothing wrong with that. I have to agree, it is kind of sad to see a lack of crritical thinking skill and lack of understanding of grammar; but nothing insulting toward the person to say that; sad that the education system isn't doing a better job teaching these things.
Statement of correct information on grammer and what that means in terms of what the sentence says and means- statement of fact, in no way insulting.

The context of the clarification is clear, and with that, so is the meaning.
While the rules speak to (and clearly allow) three, the clarification allows you to use only two (instead of three). If you chose to do that, you only get 2/3 of the possible points... Yes, instead of using a mixture of three, you may use a mixture of two, but you can't use only one, because that wouldn't be a 'mixture.'

As to whether the wording as it came out could be confusing to an ES...... yes, I suppose it could be. That is arguably kind of sad - that students could run into an interpretation they had to use two. Not insulting the writers of the rules or clarifications; it is a difficult and challenging process; it doesn't always come out perfectly. It would be easier for everyone if it did.

[iwonder]

Well, maybe this is just a regional thing. None of y'all's from Texas, and you ain't gonna understand how we talk

Anyways, the rules clearly allow 3 items, the question was just about the FAQ. Since it isn't a clarification it shouldn't effect anything clearly written in the rules.

I think we should move on from a grammar discussion and back to SciOly

[olympiaddict]

I think that calling someone's misunderstanding "kind of sad" is insulting when they're asking for clarification in a friendly tone.

[Jdogg]

Honestly, people here are just trying to help. Let's just move on and take away that, we can assume from the definition of mixtures you can have 2/3 or 3/3 substances in a mixture, you just can't have 1 substance make a mixture.
If you need to have it clarified in more detail you can send another clarification. Otherwise the point was if you want to just use 2 substances you are allowed to just use 2 out of the three.

In order to change the topic on the thread.... How's everyone's device's coming along? I know a lot of teams are still in the design phase.

[olympiaddict]

We have a number of ideas that we are waiting to build until after more clarifications come out, but we've still been able to work on timing / sorting and designing other aspects of the machine. It's an exciting event. How about you?

[iwonder]

I got a plan together, but we haven't done much to build it yet... It's kinda something that'll morph into it's final state as the year goes on. I think I figured out a neat way to sort the stuff but it'll take a while to build. And I found sma wire! There's gotta be a use for that

[Robotica]

Stated in the rules there should be an example of the ETL, or at least the required format at soinc.org. Has anyone found this info?

Thanks