Math question my sixth grade daughter's teacher graded wrong

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think that we're disagreeing about the meaning of the word "completed". It's just that I think it's possible to completely glaze 1/2 of a pot or completely fill 1/3 of a tray.

I'd argue that we are entirely disagreeing about the meaning of the word "completed".

The original question asked "How many glazed pots can you complete?"

In my understanding of the word "complete" in the above sentence, "complete" means finish completely, 100%. The pot is completely, 100% glazed. The pot is the unit that must be completely glazed. 100% of the unit (pot) must be covered in glaze, for the pot to be considered "complete".
This is the definition of "complete" as I understand it.

In your understanding, "complete" doesn't mean "finish" a unit. If you paint 1/100th of the unit, (the pot), you say, you have "completed" that 1/100th piece. This definition of complete would seem to me to make the word complete quite meaningless because you would always have to specify what fraction of the pot you have accomplished, when you use the word completed. I would not use the word "completed" to mean 1/100th of a pot has been glazed.

I think that the question you want to answer is, "How many complete pots can you glaze?"

Certainly the question could be more more clear; for example, "How many pots can you glaze?" But nobody always writes perfect questions, and ideally OP's daughter has long since talked to the teacher, received full credit, and moved on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think that the question you want to answer is, "How many complete pots can you glaze?"

That is a more wordy way of asking what was asked: "How many pots can be completed?" It is only you who doesn't understand that "completed" means "complete pot".

Certainly the question could be more more clear; for example, "How many pots can you glaze?"

4 and 1/2 could be a fine answer to "how many pots can you glaze?" You can glaze 4 pots, and half of the 5th. Perfect.

But nobody always writes perfect questions, and ideally OP's daughter has long since talked to the teacher, received full credit, and moved on.

The question as initially worded was entirely clear, actually.