I've noted a pattern is the supplementary comments, too.
For a period, the common phrase was:
. . "I know the answer. I just don't know how to get it."
I found this both amusing and distressing.
Suppose your surgeon said,
"I know the result of a quadruple-bypass procedure (you live),
I just don't understand the in-between steps."
Lately, the favorite phrase is "I don't have a clue."
This imparts absolutely no information to us.
Number of times I've asked "Exactly where is your difficulty?": 113
Number of responses: 0
[rant]
For those of you, dropping BIG HINTS to me
. . . . for the way I answer questions,
. . . . . . . PLEASE STOP IT.
I am not going to change my ways now
(38 years of teaching college-level math
and the last 9 years on these sites).
I have had excellent results and have never received ccmplaints
(from students or administrators) that I spoon-feed my students
and thereby actually do damage to their impressionable minds.
Yes, I know the saying "Teach a man to fish"; it's a good one.
Yet I can imagine the following exchange (via cellphone):
"Now bait the hook."
"How do I do that?"
"Put the worm on the hook."
"What's the hook?"
"See that curved thing with a pointy end? That's the hook."
"Okay."
"Put the worm on it."
"It keeps falling off."
"No, stick the hook through the worm."
"Really?"
"Yes, go ahead, do it."
"(Eewww!) Okay."
"Now put the hook in the water."
"It won't reach."
"Okay, reel out some line so it reaches the water."
"How do you do that?"
"Turn the crank on the reel."
"It's getting shorter!"
"Turn it the other way."
"Oh, okay."
"Lower the hook into the water."
"How far?"
"Oh, maybe two or three feet."
"Okay, now what?"
"You wait."
"For what?"
"For a fish to take the bait."
"That's it? I just sit here?"
"Right."
"And whether I eat or not depends on the whim of some fish?"
"Um, I wouldn't put it that way ..."
"Well, I would! .Forget it! .I'm getting a Big Mac!"
[/rant]
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