Haggerty: Study in Arithmetic 



477 



TABLE XL 

 College Students. Median Scores 



Attempts. Rights. 



Addition 12.4 9.3 



Subtraction 16.6 14.1 



Multiplication 11.9 8.7 



Division 12.9 12.6 



This group included fifteen students who were doing their 

 major work in mathematics, physics, or other subjects where con- 

 stant practice in the fundamentals of arithmetic is demanded. 

 Dividing the class into two groups, the practiced and unpracticed, 

 and computing the medians for both we get Table XLI. 



TABLE XLI 



College Students : Practiced and Unpracticed. Median Scores 



Attempts. Rights. 



Practiced. Unpracticed. Practiced. Unpracticed. 



Addition 16.1 12.3 13.5 8.7 



Subtraction 17.8 15.9 15.3 13.5 



Multiplication 12.8 11.5 9.6 8.5 



Division 16.7 12.2 16.5 12. 



Comparing these results with the medians for the twenty cities 

 we find that the practiced group is very much higher in every case. 

 The superiority of the unpracticed group is not so evident. In 

 both multiplication and division the medians of this group are 

 exceeded by the eighth grades in two or more cities, although most 

 eighth grade classes fall below. The college group, even the un- 

 practiced one, is superior to any eighth grade in addition and 

 subtraction. 



If this finding is indicative of a general fact, it means one of 

 two things: either that students who go on to college are above 

 the average ability of eighth grade classes or they continue to 

 improve in these skills after the eighth grade period is over. Prob- 

 ably one or both of these causes operate in a specific case but the 

 fact is evident that the standard of eighth grade achievement must 

 be exceeded in order to become a successful college student. 



Miss Baylor, in testing thirteen saleswomen in an Indianapolis 

 department store, found the following median scores: addition, 

 15-12.5; subtraction, 13-10.4; multiplication, 11.3-7.7; division, 

 9-6.7. Here, as in the case of the college students, is an evident 

 superiority in addition and subtraction, but in multiplication the 



