Talk:qual

RFV discussion
--Connel MacKenzie 09:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

It's attested in graduate student handbooks from all over the place. I'll go find mine and cite it later, if you guys want :). In any case, the word is used quite often, I would even challenge your classification of it as slang.  Maybe it should be classified as "US", if it's regional?  I don't know whether or not that's the case.  The word is everyday lexicon right up there with "cat" and "dog" for every math/comp sci grad student/prof at every university I've been to.

From bgc:

Steven Krantz, 2003, "A Mathematician's Survival Guide: graduate school and early career development" - Page 34.
 * It is essential, as you study for your real analysis qual, that you do a great many exercises that will drill you in the use of these “big three” theorems. (emph mine)

Emanuel Derman, 2004, "My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance", p. 30.
 * To be a theorist, you also had to pass a special theory section on the quals (emph mine)

Glenn Adams, 2001, fiction, "A Likely Story: The Unlikely Adventures of a Boy and a Man", p.336.
 * "All of us in the program in Psychology must take and pass the quals before we can be legitimately admitted to the Rehab Program" (emph mine) I emphasize the fact this is a fiction book, meaning the word has transcended academia

Stephen Cannell, 2000, "The Devil's Workshop", p. 12.
 * He'd refused to say anything more, because he didn't want to distract her with his problems on the eve of the Quals. (emph mine)

Harold O'Neil, 1994, "Motivation: Theory and Research", p. 208
 * All crews are allowed so many Non-Qual exercises before they are scheduled for the Qual exercises. (emph mine)

Ralph Morelli, 1992, "Minds, Brains, and Computers: Perspectives in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence", p. 144
 * Well, that reminds me of the QUAL [qualification exam for artificial intelligence]. (emph his)

And so on. I took special care to include non-pluralized use, even though that's much rarer than pluralized use. I realize the bgc search for "quals" is diluted with lots of noise, but just search for "the quals" to fix that, and you'll see this has tons of cites. This illustrates it will make an excellent addition to Wiktionary :-) Signed, Language Lover

RFV passed. Thanks, Language Lover! —RuakhTALK 17:20, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

RFV discussion (2)
The 1992 quot. definitely doesn't support the sense given, and I'm not too sure about the 2000 quot., either. — Raifʻhār Doremítzwr ~ (U · T · C) ~ 16:46, 14 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I've commented out the 1992 quotation. (It really can be removed, but I didn't want to be so bold.) I've added three good ones IMO to the citations page: please have a look. &#x200b;—msh210℠ 17:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Aye, they look good — especially that 1993 quot.; I'm happy to pass this in its present state. As for that 1992 quot., it should be in support of, whither I've now moved it. Thanks msh210.  — Raifʻhār Doremítzwr ~ (U · T · C) ~ 21:24, 14 June 2010 (UTC)