A Liberal Arts Core Curriculum in Analogies Quiz

Answer: Charles Darwin: Zoology

Carl Linnaeus was a prominent figure in the field of botany, just as Darwin was in the field of zoology. Darwin was known for his 19th century publication "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." He offered insights into the process of natural selection and collected significant data on different classes of animals. Linnaeus is perhaps the most famous botanist in history.

He developed the binomial nomenclature system for plants and fungi. Einstein was a theoretical physicist; Crick was known for molecular biology and neuroscience; and Curie was prominent in the fields of physics and chemistry.

Answer: Particle: Physics

Organic chemistry (along with analytical, physical, inorganic, and biochemistry) is a major subdivision of chemistry, just as particle physics (along with atomic and nuclear) is a major subdivision of physics. Zoology is a subdivision of biology, not chemistry, and thermodynamics is a field of physics, not biology. Astrophysics is a branch of space science.

Answer: PEMDAS: Order of Operations

Socahtoah is a mnemonic device used in trigonometry to help students remember the three basic trig rations. SOH (Sin = Opposite / Hypotenuse), CAH (Cos = Adjacent / Hypotenuse), and TOA (Tan = Opposite / Adjacent). Likewise, PEMDAS is a mnemonic device to help students remember the order of operations (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction).

All Students Take Calculus (ASTC) is a mnemonic for the sign of each trigonometric function in each quadrant of the plane, not for calculating the area of a sphere. The other two mnemonic devices are reversed. King Hector Doesn't Usually Drink Cold Milk (KHDUDCM) is for remembering metric prefixes (kilo, hector, deca, etc.) while Does McDonald's Sell Cheeseburgers? (DMSC) is for remembering how to do long division (divide, multiply, subtract, compare, remainder).

Answer: Objectivism: Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand developed the philosophical system of objectivism, which has had great influence on libertarian political thought, just as Kierkegaard developed the philosophy of existentialism. It was Neitzche who came up with the idea of the Übermensch (or superman) in his philosophy, while Adam Smith is known for capitalism rather than Marxism. Epicurus was known for Hedonism, not Stoicism.

Answer: Willem Janszoon: Australia

Leif Erikson (a Norse explorer) is believed to have been the first European to set foot on the North America continent. Likewise, Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon is the first European known to have landed on Australia, in 1606. Hernando De Soto is known for being the first European to see the Mississippi River, while Ponce de León settled Puerto Rico. John Davis, not Marco Polo, was the first person to set foot on Antarctic land in 1821, while Russian explorers were the first confirmed to have sighted it in 1820.

Answer: Piaget's Theory: Psychology

Monetarism is a theory in economics involving the money supply, while Piaget's theory is a psychological theory regarding the four stages of cognitive development.

The others do not match up, as universal grammar is a linguistic (not geographical) theory, the Coase Theorem is an economic (not linguistic) theory, and attachment theory belongs to the field of psychology, not political science.

Answer: Charles Dickens: Victorian Era

English novelist Jane Austen wrote during the Regency era (a period in the early 1800s) when the son of the mad King George III ruled as his proxy, just as Charles Dickens wrote during the Victorian era (when Victoria was queen.) Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan era while Blake wrote during the Romantic era and T.S. Eliot in the 20th century.

Answer: Violin: Percussion

A flute is NOT a brass instrument (it belongs to the woodwind family), just as a violin is NOT a percussion instrument (it belongs to the string family). The other choices all appropriately pair each instrument with its corresponding family.

Answer: Pablo Picasso: Cubism

Claude Monet was a prominent artist in the impressionist movement just as Pablo Picasso was prominent in cubism. However, Courbet was a realist painter, Jackson Pollock an abstract artist, and Rembrandt was part of the Baroque movement in art.

Answer: Javert: "Les Misérables"

Iago is the villain in "Othello," just as Javert is the villain in "Les Misérables." Beatrice is in "Much Ado About Nothing," not "Twelfth Night," and she is not a villain. Oedipus is a tragic hero of Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex," and MacDuff does not appear in "King Lear" but in "Macbeth." He is also not a villain.