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How do I use the formula quiz question?

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Formula is a type of question available in Quizzes and New Quizzes that allows professors to create simple mathematical assessments. It is recommended that New Quizzes be used instead of Quizzes when writing a Formula question, due to the former being more intuitive than the latter. It should be noted that the Formula feature does not support higher math such as calculus or optimization. 

Before you Begin

Formula questions do not support calculus (integrals and derivatives) or optimization (maximization and minimization) questions. It does support most discrete probability questions, since they do not require integrals or other higher-level operations.

1. Making a Formula Question in New Quizzes

1.1. Create a New Quizzes Quiz

  1. Navigate to Quizzes in the Course Navigation menu.
  2. To create the quiz, press the +Quiz button.
  3. Choose the New Quizzes option. Submit. 

After filling in the relevant information, scroll down to click Save or Save & Publish. 

Did you enable New Quizzes? If New Quizzes is not available, refer to this guide on how to enable New Quizzes

1.2. Adding a Formula Question

1. Click on the + icon. 

2. Choose the Formula option in the Insert Content pop-up menu.

3. Fill in the Question Title. This can be the question number.

NOTE: This will not necessarily be visible to students. 

4. Input your question into the field under Question. 

To input an equation, click on the fx button indicated inside the red box. f(x)=x will look as indicated inside the green box. 

NOTE: Define a variable by using back-ticks `x` outside the equation and in the actual question as indicated inside the green box. 

5. Declared variables will be visible under Answers. Set a variable’s minimum and maximum limits here, as well as how many decimal places it should have.

6. Write the formula definition. This is the expression that, when solved, will return the answer to the question. 

7. Use the fields under Generate Possible Solutions to generate up to 200 possible answers to your question. 

1. ‘Number of solutions’ indicates the number of variations to your question that you want to have. Questions must have at least one possible solution. 

2. A margin of error can be specified but the option will be removed if ‘Display as Scientific Notation’ is enabled. 

8. Click the Generate button to produce variations to your question. 

1. More complex equations such as x!−5x may have less than the specified number of possible solutions. 

9.  Specify the desired number of points for this question and click Done. 

Remember to publish your quiz when you are satisfied with editing it and creating new content. Professors can view the quiz as students would by clicking on the Preview button at the top of the page. 

2. How do I make a Formula Question in Classic Quizzes?

2.1. Create a New Classic Quiz

1. Navigate to Quizzes in the Course Navigation menu and press +Quiz on top right of page. If prompted, choose the Classic Quiz option and submit. 

2. Fill in the relevant information under the Details tab and switch to the Questions tab. 

3. Click the +New Question button 

2.2. Adding a Formula Question

1. Name the question and change the number of points assigned to it. 

2. Select Formula Question in the drop-down menu. 

3. Insert a math equation or expression by clicking the button. There is also an option to use LaTex here.

4. Enter the question and your variables as [variable].  

5. Variables defined in the [variable] format will be displayed under the Variable Definitions section, where their limits and decimal places can be specified

6. Input the formula under Formula Definition to get the solution to your question. Visit this link to explore the functions supported in Quercus. There is also an option to specify decimal places.

7. Under Generate Solutions, use the first field to specify the number of variations to your question and the second field to specify a margin of error. Click Generate. 

8.  Press Update Question. 

Press Save or Save & Publish at the bottom of the page to store the quiz. 

3. Comments on Using Formula Questions

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