Junior High School Math Exam Integrates Speedometer Regulations, Reveals Indicated Speed Higher than Actual
The 115th Junior High School Education Examination in Taiwan has incorporated 'car speedometer regulations' into its math exam questions, challenging students to apply real-world knowledge to mathematical problems. Educators believe this encourages logical thinking and aligns with modern educational goals.
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- 📰 Published: May 16, 2026 at 17:22
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Central News Agency (Reporter Chen Zhi-zhong, Taipei 16th) Experienced drivers know that the speed displayed on a car's speedometer is slightly higher than the actual speed. The 115th Junior High School Education Examination in Taiwan has incorporated this situation into its math section, revealing legal regulations and calculation formulas, and this unfamiliar material might surprise test-takers.
The Junior High School Education Examination began on the 16th and 17th. While exam questions were not released today, the Ministry of Education invited frontline junior high school teachers to review the questions and share the testing trends with the public.
Lin Bo-jia, a teacher at Beitou Junior High School in Taipei City, and Liu Jian-cheng, a teacher at Pingzhen Junior High School in Taoyuan City, believe that the number of math questions in this year's exam is the same as last year, and they are well-differentiated and moderately difficult. However, there are a few questions on subjects rarely seen in past exam papers, which might cause test-takers to feel unfamiliar and uncertain when answering, but they can still find the answers if they remain calm and use the knowledge learned in junior high school curriculum.
Taking the question group 23 to 25 as an example, it mentions the design of car speedometers. Lin Bo-jia mentioned that when he drives, he discovers that the speed on the car's speedometer is often higher than the speed given by the navigation system. The purpose of doing this may be to avoid speeding.
The math section takes material from real-life phenomena, and the aforementioned question set tells test-takers that the 'indicated speed' being higher than the 'actual speed' is actually intentional and stipulated by law. The exam question even directly quotes the actual formula from Taiwan's 'Vehicle Safety Testing Standards' and designs three sub-questions, letting test-takers judge the maximum and minimum actual speed at a specific indicated speed; the relationship between tire rotation speed and actual speed; and the size relationship of speed when instruments fail or tire specifications do not match, etc.
'This question answered my long-standing puzzle.' Lin Bo-jia praised the examiner's intention. Although the diagram provided in the exam is an 'analog' speedometer, which is becoming less common in cars nowadays, it does not affect the answering. There are many things in life related to mathematics, and even the most diligent student cannot cover all materials before the exam. Therefore, dealing with unfamiliar materials is also a test of students' presence of mind.
Liu Jian-cheng analyzed that this question is very realistic. The question provides sufficient guidance, testing students' ability to extract important information from a large amount of data and further deduce relationships and infer, which conforms to the future capabilities that math education aims to cultivate.
Liu Jian-cheng mentioned that this year's math section also includes real-life topics such as bacterial quantity in petri dishes, national electricity usage, weight and quality classification of pomelos, and bookstore discount activities, all aiming to guide students to understand the meaning of mathematics from real or near-real situations. Students must transform situations into solvable math problems and correctly find the answers. (Editor: Wu Su-rou) 1150516
The Junior High School Education Examination began on the 16th and 17th. While exam questions were not released today, the Ministry of Education invited frontline junior high school teachers to review the questions and share the testing trends with the public.
Lin Bo-jia, a teacher at Beitou Junior High School in Taipei City, and Liu Jian-cheng, a teacher at Pingzhen Junior High School in Taoyuan City, believe that the number of math questions in this year's exam is the same as last year, and they are well-differentiated and moderately difficult. However, there are a few questions on subjects rarely seen in past exam papers, which might cause test-takers to feel unfamiliar and uncertain when answering, but they can still find the answers if they remain calm and use the knowledge learned in junior high school curriculum.
Taking the question group 23 to 25 as an example, it mentions the design of car speedometers. Lin Bo-jia mentioned that when he drives, he discovers that the speed on the car's speedometer is often higher than the speed given by the navigation system. The purpose of doing this may be to avoid speeding.
The math section takes material from real-life phenomena, and the aforementioned question set tells test-takers that the 'indicated speed' being higher than the 'actual speed' is actually intentional and stipulated by law. The exam question even directly quotes the actual formula from Taiwan's 'Vehicle Safety Testing Standards' and designs three sub-questions, letting test-takers judge the maximum and minimum actual speed at a specific indicated speed; the relationship between tire rotation speed and actual speed; and the size relationship of speed when instruments fail or tire specifications do not match, etc.
'This question answered my long-standing puzzle.' Lin Bo-jia praised the examiner's intention. Although the diagram provided in the exam is an 'analog' speedometer, which is becoming less common in cars nowadays, it does not affect the answering. There are many things in life related to mathematics, and even the most diligent student cannot cover all materials before the exam. Therefore, dealing with unfamiliar materials is also a test of students' presence of mind.
Liu Jian-cheng analyzed that this question is very realistic. The question provides sufficient guidance, testing students' ability to extract important information from a large amount of data and further deduce relationships and infer, which conforms to the future capabilities that math education aims to cultivate.
Liu Jian-cheng mentioned that this year's math section also includes real-life topics such as bacterial quantity in petri dishes, national electricity usage, weight and quality classification of pomelos, and bookstore discount activities, all aiming to guide students to understand the meaning of mathematics from real or near-real situations. Students must transform situations into solvable math problems and correctly find the answers. (Editor: Wu Su-rou) 1150516