THE SALE of a new maths table book used by students in Junior and Leaving Cert exams has been suspended after the discovery of errors in the publication.
The State Examination Commission is working on a new edition, due in the new year.
A fourth-year student at a Dublin girls’ school found one error last week in the Formulae and Tables booklet, which is approved for use in State examinations.
On page 13 of the trigonometry section, an (1,0) written at the top of the Unit Circle should actually be written (0,1). The commission said there was also a mistake in the chemistry section on page 64, where a standard temperature is given as 273.16 K but should be 273.15 K.
The new edition will also include the formula for the angle between two lines in the co-ordinate geometry section. The booklet, published for the first time this year, would have been bought by every post-primary child in the country, said one maths teacher, who added the mistakes would have led students to formulate wrong answers in an exam.
The book replaced the Log Tables that had been used for about 40 years, and included many new formulae, tables and other information.
The Government Publications Sales Office said it was told of the error on Friday, November 13th, and had been asked to suspend sales until a decision had been made as to whether to reprint the booklets or issue an “errata” to each student.
Many students who are preparing for their mock exams in February are still unaware of the issue. A commission spokesperson said it would advise schools about this “shortly” and would put the information on its website.
