Real-Life Math -- Solution
The foul happened at the 23-yard line. The penalty is 1/2 the distance
to the goal line from where the foul occurred.
23
/ 2 = 11.5 yard-penalty
23 yard line - 11.5 yard penalty =
11.5
Your call is that the next play will begin on the 11.5 yard
line.
How did you do? As it turns out, officiating requires
more common sense skills than math skills -- but that's not to say you
don't need math skills!
"You need a basic understanding of math,"
says Bob Still of the National Association of Sports Officials. "It varies
sport by sport."
For example, track officials will have to work with
measurements and time. And in football, knowing how to read a clock is important.
For example, there's the 2-minute warning and the 25-second play. In
these cases, the play of the game itself is affected by the time.
As
for baseball, you need to be able to count. "We have to count balls and strikes
-- so we only have to count up to 4 and 3," jokes Still, who is a baseball
official.
Officials rarely have to keep score. In the cases that they
do, they need a good grasp of basic math.