arithmetic questions: need to accept either a positive or a negative answer

Eugene.S.500

Hey all,

In creating an arithmetic question, I somehow need to explain to Brightspace that if the answer is, say 123, then I want either a positive (123) or a negative (-123) answers to be accepted as correct. How do I do that?

For context, you might be wondering how it makes sense to accept both the negative and the positive. This would be in a question like, "Aisha needs ${x} in {y} years. How much does she need to deposit today into an account earning {i}% a year in order to reach her goal?" My students use a "Time Value of Money" calculator app to solve questions like these, and by convention, I tell them to use negative numbers when money is leaving your pocket. So, the calculator app would give them the answer as negative (Aisha saved money by taking it out of her pocket), but in normal human language the answer to the question would be positive, of course.

In the past, I have included the instruction to "Enter the answer as positive, even if the calculator gives you a negative number." into such questions, but of course, inevitably someone gives the literal correct but negative answer from the calculator app, and the LMS grades it incorrect. I would go in and manually override the grade on that question in that case, but I'd love it if Brightspace could do the work for me automatically.

Is there a way?

Dmitry.L.956

Hello Eugene,
Since your organization is entitled to end-user support, we will be happy to assist you directly.
Please open a support case with us related to your specific quiz, we will explore the options, and once we find a solution, we will be glad to post it here as well.