Bad Form?

[mikexz]

Hi,

I recently got back my calc test and noticed that my teacher took off 12 marks from a 60 mark test for "bad form." Is there some book or guide on bad form because the reasons my teacher gave seemed ridiculous. None of these "expectations" were stated on the test or in any lessons...

From what my teacher said about my test (why I lost marks):
-negative exponents--> are considered bad form e.g. I had x^-12 instead of 1/(x^12)
-fractional exponents---> apparently I have to use square root sign or else it's bad form
-Having a fraction in a fraction e.g. (x+2)/[(x-3)/(x-5)]
-Graph is too short--> I was doing a log graph and put arrows at the ends of my graph but I only showed a small portion of my graph
-using f'(x) instead of df/dt

Are any of these reasons valid?? If not, how should I approach my teacher to get back my marks?

thanks

 

[pka]

Are any of these reasons valid?? If not, how should I approach my teacher to get back my marks?

Unfortunately they are all valid because you teacher requires them.
I would not require those conventions, but there is nothing wrong with any of them from a purely mathematical point of view.

So you need to approach the teacher and ask for a list of required conventions so that you will not lose points in the future.