Ideas on the move: numbers, paper, letters, chess and news
Tests: 6 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 7 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 75 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
Ali: "Our numbers came from India via the Arabs." His mate from Florence: "Fun fact, Florence literally banned 'em!" Who's right?
- 1. Only the mate; digits came from Florence and spread to India — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 2. Both: the digits came from India via Arabic scholars, and Florence banned them in 1299 — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. Neither; digits came from Rome — score 4
- 4. Only Ali; nobody ever banned digits anywhere, because they were always seen as useful — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 6: «Our digits came from India, spread through scholars writing in Arabic such as al-Khwarizmi around 825, and reached Europe through writers such as Fibonacci in…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «digits» (+5); the same action «spread» (+3). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
In Europa Universalis the printing press spreads from province to province in a few decades. What was paper's real journey from China to Spain?
- 1. It never reached Spain at all — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A few weeks, carried by fast horses — no support
- 3. About a thousand years, step by step — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. One day, by order of the Spanish king — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
Zara: "A was an ox head? No way, that's mad!" Her nan: "Aye, pet, letters were pictures once." ("Pet" means dear, in the North East.) What's true?
- 1. A was first a picture of an apple — score 5
- 2. Letters were always just lines — no support
- 3. Letters were invented by the Romans from nothing at all, in one go — no support
- 4. The first letter began as a drawing of an ox's head — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 3: «The letter A began as a little drawing of an ox's head, paper crept from China to Spain over a thousand years, chess was born in India, and a Cinderella story…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «begin» (+2); the same doer «letter» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · right ✓
Ethan: "Confucius, Buddha and Socrates lived at the same time? Did they, like, have a group chat?" Best answer?
- 1. No, they lived far apart and never knew of each other — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. They were all the same person — no support
- 3. Yes, they met up in Athens once a year — no support
- 4. Yes, sort of: they sent notes by carrier pigeon every week — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
Ollie's Gen X dad: "Back in my day, news took ages, not like your phones." How long did news of Waterloo take to reach London in 1815?
- 1. Seconds — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It never arrived — no support
- 3. Years — no support
- 4. Days — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
Kai's cousin: "Chess is proper English, innit, knights and castles." What's the correction?
- 1. Chess began in Ancient Rome — score 4
- 2. Your cousin's right, chess was invented in London by English knights — no support
- 3. Chess began in India and spread through Persia and the Arab world — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 4. Chess came from America — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 13: «Chess began in India around 600 CE and spread to Persia, the Arab world and Europe; the queen became the strongest piece only around 1475, in Spain.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «india» (+5); the same action «begin» (+2); the same doer «chess» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
Ella's friend: "Cinderella's Disney, end of." Ella: "Nah, there's a Chinese one from ages ago." Who's right?
- 1. Both: Disney lived in China — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Neither: Cinderella is from 2000 — no support
- 3. The friend: Disney invented the whole story in 1950 — no support
- 4. Ella: a Chinese version was written down around 850 CE — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
Aisha asks which religions have the most people. Her mate says, "Islam is, like, mid-size." ("Mid" here means middling.) What does a big 2020 count say?
- 1. Christianity first, Islam second, with about 2 billion followers — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Islam is one of the smallest religions, with only a few million followers — no support
- 3. Nobody follows any religion now — no support
- 4. Buddhism has 5 billion followers — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Tom: "The Greeks had a steam toy and didn't make trains? Big L." ("L" means loss.) What would they have needed?
- 1. Only a bigger toy and a few more slaves to turn it — score -2
- 2. Nothing, because trains need no steam — ← Mova's choice · score 3
- 3. Permission from the Romans — no support
- 4. A use for steam power, metal skills and fuel all together — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 3, against -2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 16: «About 2,000 years ago Hero of Alexandria made a spinning steam toy, but nobody used steam to do work until the first steam engines around 1700; a working engin…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «steam» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
Lily's bro shares a fake video: "It's got a million views, it's legit." ("Legit" means real.) What's the wise reply?
- 1. Fake videos cannot be shared — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Lots of shares does not make it true; check before sharing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A million views proves it's true, so share it with everyone — no support
- 4. Videos online are always checked — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
Aarav: "Scholars in Toledo translating books? Like Google Translate, but slow?" What did they actually do?
- 1. Translated Arabic books into Latin, bringing science to Europe — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 13
- 2. Translated English books into Chinese — score 13
- 3. Burned all foreign books — score 4
- 4. Built the first computer — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 1 with score 13, tied with another option at 13 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 22, line 3: «In Baghdad's House of Wisdom scholars of many faiths translated Greek, Persian and Indian books into Arabic, much as a group of friends today might translate a…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+7); the same action «translate» (+5); the same thing acted on «greek books» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · right ✓
What would have happened if paper had never left China?
- 1. Books in other lands would have stayed costly, written on skins — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Europe would have had even more books — no support
- 3. Nothing at all would have changed — no support
- 4. Everyone would have started using phones much earlier instead — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the region from which the digits now employed in arithmetic originated.
- 1. Ancient Egypt — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. India — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Ancient Rome — no support
- 4. England — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the dissemination of paper from China?
- 1. It occurred within a single year by decree of the Chinese emperor — no support
- 2. Paper never left the territory of China — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 3. Paper was invented independently in Spain before China — score 5
- 4. It proceeded gradually, reaching Spain in the twelfth century — ✓ the right answer · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 75, line 3: «The letter A began as a little drawing of an ox's head, paper crept from China to Spain over a thousand years, chess was born in India, and a Cinderella story…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «paper» (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the origin of the game of chess.
- 1. It was devised in England during the twentieth century — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It was devised by Fibonacci in twelve hundred and two — no support
- 3. It originated in India and was transmitted through Persia and the Arab world — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It originated in Ancient Rome — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Ascertain the principal finding of a study published in two thousand and eighteen concerning false news upon social media.
- 1. False news was never disseminated — no support
- 2. False news was disseminated faster and further than true news — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 3. False news was invariably labelled as such — no support
- 4. True news was disseminated a hundred times faster — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 75, line 17: «A large 2018 study of social media found that false news spread faster and further than true news.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same property (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/75-ideas-on-the-move-numbers-paper-letters-chess-and-news/