Boy, don't turn your back on that thing. 

Usually, I use the mode that pauses after each problem, but tonight I figured my rating's relatively low, so let's keep 'em coming, at least as long as I'm passing them.  So I'm doing OK for a while, & then I blow one, and for the first time in a number of puzzles, my rating is displayed.  I was a bit shocked because I thought I was making some progress.  So I checked my recent history...

That's right.  1426 - 34 = 1310.  Well, I've had enough Orwellian mathematics for one night.  Hey, Tactics Trainer, you Failed at arithmetic, you get 0%, and I'm reducing your rating by 473! 

Boooooooo-urns!

Does that mean when you passed well Michael, it jumped by 116 points instead of 34. Or it jumped by 34 points when it should jump by 116, arrgghhh

Perhaps the programmer at the time was getting into the Bacardi Rum? 

I think you're right - it must have some sort of a multiplier (how much do you play tactics trainer?)

Here are my recent results, and the math adds up.

Well, I've been averaging over 100 puzzles a day for the last little while, but when I'm stopping after every problem, the math always seems right.  I think it hates me, and it knew I wasn't looking, personally.

Hats off to you, btw.  That's an awesome TT rating.  I assume some sort of animal sacrifice or burnt offering was involved? 

I have been totally sucking on that thing lately.. I went from 1803 to 1500 or so real fast.. i only do 3 a day the trick as most ppl already know is to make the most FORCING move in 90% of the problems.. i have many times disagreed with the answer because my answer was a tad more passive but stil got to mate in 2 or 3 or however many moves which is purely a matter of personal preference and style even.. its good though because it teaches you to think like acomputer a little bit.. i found myself  starting to think a little more computerish after playing battlechess a lot on the old nintendo back in the 90s

I haven't broken 1900 yet, but I'm getting there...  And yeah, it can be a bit of a roller-coaster.  TT late at night is generally a bad idea.  I get crappy at tactics, and my trainer gets crappy at math. 

If it's late at night Mike, you and the trainer should BOTH go out for a drink and leave the chess and marking you til the morning when you are fresh and alert (once the hangover wears off). 

I gained access to the chess.com TT database and executed some custom SQL scripts to get it to look like that.

Erik was paid.

That sounds brilliant.  Trainer is buying.  ;-)

Haha!  That might be my only hope. 

Wow.  There are tactics up there that have an average think time above six minutes.  That's wild...

um... sorry about those misplaced quotes.

*puts glass down* 

um,actually the "rating" thing is the "rating" of the problem,and then it shows your rating,fair enough???

he's talking about the difference in "his" rating after the 2 problems, given in the my rating column.  I suspect if you use pause mode it displays every problem and the change in rating, but if you use continuous it only displays the last total when you stop, so if you do say 10 problems it only shows the rating after the tenth problem, not the inbetween results.

NIce idea, but it doesn't hold up. There is only 1 minute between the two ratings he gave, and that matches well with the time he used on them. Myself, I have no idea how it came about. I wonder how many players fail to notice it. On the other hand, it does avoid rating inflation :).

@cuendillar, wel spotted, in my defence I haven't had breakfast yet :-).  Glad I didn't move in any of my games.

I love tactics trainer with all my heart and I feel uncomfortable with any derogatory talk about it.  I don't know how to explain the fuzzy math.  

For the original poster: yes, the summary page in TT has a bug. I reported it a long time ago, I think it was not fixed. Look what summary I have:

Anyone know how to get lower-rated (e.g. problems in the 1000-1200 range) tactical problems?  Sometimes I need to work on quick responses to simpler problems for blitz.  I don't know if Tactics Trainer sets me the problems in my rating range or if some default setting I'm using is determining the problems I'm getting.

jkpastorius, just start doing quick responses, and your rating will fall quickly enough, and then TT will find appropriate problems, right?