 | | Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
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(...) /usr/dict/words on many linux distributions is terrible. Here's an interesting test: grep herbivore /usr/dict/words grep omnivore /usr/dict/words grep carnivore /usr/dict/words (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
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(...) It was indeed a little off. I'd worked out 7.4 letters per word based on an even-ish distribution; working on the list from the linux /usr/dict/words shows an average of 8.4 letters per word (after subtracting out the ^Js) for words in nature. (...) (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
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(...) Not sure this is a good assumption. The letters aren't evenly distributed -- for example, E is way more common than Z. The median letter is probably somewhere around K -- and you only need to get up to 'E' to be past the 1/4 mark. (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
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(...) Part of the problem was bad communication (by Nik to us). This was an enrichment assignment, not a mandatory one. And only some of the kids got it, it wasn't intended to actually be solved... (I know this now because Jo called me, it's been (...) (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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| | Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
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(...) Finally remembered the assignment: get as close as you can to 100 without going over. Only one word, but it had to at least be 90, so most kids searched around a bit until they got one close, but it didn't drag on forever. Everyone compared (...) (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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