Baseball Arithmetic Trivia Quiz

Answer: The number of dwarfs Snow White had

From the introduction we know that the right fielder (RF) is represented by the number nine, and the pitcher by the number one. The catcher must therefore be one of the numbers from two to eight. The hint eliminates three as a possibility.

Babe Ruth wore the number 3, which is excluded by the hint. STOP signs are octagons, with eight sides. Because RF=9, it would be necessary to use the forbidden 'one' to arrive at this answer, and we already know that P=1. Young Harry was 11 when he started at Hogwarts. This number is too large to be the answer to a subtraction problem using only the numbers one through nine, and also contains the proscribed number one.

The answer therefore must be the dwarfs, of whom there were seven in the 1937 Disney favourite 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'.

RF-C gives us 9-C=7, so the catcher (C) is represented by the number two. We also can now assign '7' to the left fielder from the second part of the hint.

Answer: The number of trombones 'The Music Man' had in his big parade

Three answers can be eliminated immediately, without reference to scoring notation. January 25 is Robbie Burns' night, which contains the forbidden 'two'. World War II ended in 1945, and is eliminated because of the four. A piano has 88 keys, which breaks the 'no number is repeated' part of the hint.

This leaves us with 'Seventy-Six Trombones', that rousing number from Meredith Willson's 'The Music Man', which became a movie starring Robert Preston in 1962.

Here's how it works:
From the intro and working out an earlier question, we know that RF=9 and LF=7. A logical conclusion would be that CF=8, and you'd be right. Therefore, (LF*RF) + CF + 3B = (7*9) + 8 + 3B =76, or 63 + 8 +3B = 76. The third baseman (3B) must therefore be represented by the number five.

We now know that P=1, C=2, 3B=5, LF=7, CF=8 and RF=9. Only three more positions to identify!

Answer: Another name for the card game Blackjack

The three incorrect answers are all eliminated by the hint. The Great War began in 1914 and thus contains the forbidden four. Montreal's Olympics were in 1976, which contains the other forbidden number, six. The Beatles' 'When I'm 64' uses both of the proscribed numbers.

An alternate name for Blackjack is 21, which is the correct answer. Not wanting to encourage gambling, I won't go into great detail!

We have already worked out that seven represents the left fielder, so we have 7*1B=21 and can see that the first baseman (1B) must be represented by the number three. Adding 1B=3 to our list leaves us needing to assign numbers to only two more positions.

Answer: The title of a movie directed by Federico Fellini

Although 33 1/3, the speed associated with LPs, contains the required fraction, it also contains the number three, which the hint precludes. The Spanish Civil War began in 1936, and can be eliminated both for containing the forbidden numbers and because 36 is a whole number. (Both of these options are also rather too great to be answers to the problem, without some use of multiplication.) There are seven Deadly Sins, and though the number seven is not excluded by the hint, it is a whole number and must therefore be discounted.

The Fellini movie, from the early sixties, is '8 ½' and starred Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimee.

We have already worked out the numbers needed to solve the problem (CF + RF)/C or (8+9)/2 = 17/2 = 8 ½. Bother, that means we are still seeking those other two positions.

Answer: All of these dates are correct

On January 25 Scotsmen talk to the haggis (before they eat it), play the bagpipes and consume large quantities of whisky in celebration of the birth of their most beloved poet. On April 25 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) landed at Gallipoli at a place later known as Anzac Cove. Their courage and sacrifice is remembered on April 25 each year in both countries. Of course, Christmas is celebrated on December 25, usually attended by all the trappings of gifts, trees, carol singing and over-eating.

The arithmetic works thus:
(2B*SS) + P = 25 Second base and shortstop are the two positions that we have yet to assign their numbers, but we know that P=1, meaning that (2B*SS) must equal 24. We can't use 3*8, because the three is excluded AND we already know that 3=1B and 8=CF. We must conclude that the multiplication is either (4*6) or (6*4), but still we can't conclusively assign the numbers to their correct positions. We'll have to work on that a bit more.

Answer: The freezing point of water in degrees Fahrenheit

The incorrect answers can all be eliminated using the hint. Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius, and no position is represented by 0. (Even if you have yet to work out that 1B=3, the intro has given you this information.) The Armistice was signed in 1918, becoming effective on November 11 of that year, and can be eliminated because of the eight, and the absence of a three. Munich hosted the Olympics in 1972, and can't be correct because of the presence of the seven and the absence of the three.

Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which in the 21st century may not be such common knowledge as it was in my schooldays, because so many countries have converted to the use of Celsius.

Here's the arithmetic:
(RF*2B) - SS + C = 32 We know that RF=9 and C=2, and also that 2B and SS are either 4 and 6 or 6 and 4. If SS=4 and 2B=6, then
(9*6) - 4 + 2 = 52. This is not what we need. Therefore the shortstop must be represented by six, and the second baseman by four, giving us (9*4) = 36 - 6 + 2 = 32! We can now complete our list, by adding 2B=4 and SS=6.

Answer: The number of Santa's reindeer, including Rudolph

The 'flanking outfielders' hint eliminates all but the correct answer. Without Rudolph, Santa has eight reindeer. As eight is the notation for center field, which is flanked by the other two outfielders, this can't be the answer. There are ten provinces and three territories in Canada, giving us 10 and 13 as answers. No fielding position is represented by a number greater than nine.

'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was a popular song when I was a child, and very likely still is. Rudolph, of course, saved Christmas one stormy night, by using his bright, shiny nose to light the way of Santa and the eight other reindeer. He brought the total to nine, which is also the notation for the right fielder.

Here's the solution:
(LF + CF + RF)/1B + P = 9
(7 + 8 + 9)/3 + 1 = 24/3 + 1 = 8 + 1 = 9

Answer: The number of Dalmatians in the title of a book by Dodie Smith

The number of squares on a chessboard, 64, can be eliminated because it is not a three-digit number. (There is a math riddle concerning this, with the answer 204 squares, but this can also be eliminated by the proscription of two as part of the answer.) There are said to have been 300 Spartans with King Leonidas at Thermopylae, at least in the title of the 1962 movie starring Richard Egan. The three eliminates this as a correct answer. The boiling point of water is 212 degrees F, which can't be the answer because of the twos, and the lack of a zero.

Dodie Smith's novel 'The One Hundred and One Dalmatians' was made into an animated movie in 1961, and a live action film in 1996. Glenn Close starred in the latter as the evil Cruella De Vil.

Here are the figures:
(CF*CF) + (RF*2B) + P = 101
(8*8) + (9*4) + 1 = 101
64 + 36 + 1 = 101

Answer: The number feared by triskaidekaphobics

The crew of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first moon landing, on 20 July 1969. This answer can be eliminated because eleven does not include two unique digits. 'K' is the eleventh letter of the English alphabet and can be discounted for the same reason. The letter 'U' is the 21st letter, and does not meet the requirement that the answer be 'under 20', and can't be correct.

This leaves us with 13, the number that people who suffer from triskaidekaphobia fear. In many countries, Friday the thirteenth is considered to be an unlucky day, even by those who can stomach the number 13 in other circumstances. In Spain, however, this combination of day and date has no special significance, as it is Tuesday the thirteenth that is the inauspicious date.

Here are the numbers:
(1B + 2B + 3B + SS)/C + LF - 1B = 13
(3 + 4 + 5 + 6)/2 + 7 - 3 = 13
18/2 + 7 - 3 = 13
9 + 7 - 3 = 13

Answer: Both of these answers are correct

Sir Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister of Britain, inspired speechmaker and prolific author, celebrated his 90th birthday in November 1964, and died two months later on 24 January 1965.

Unlike North American Bingo cards, those used in the UK don't have the B-I-N-G-O feature, and have three rows and nine columns, instead of a five by five grid. Not every space contains a number, just five in each row, with the highest possible being 90, known as 'top of the shop'. (The highest number on a North American card is 75.)

The solution this time is quite straightforward. Adding the numbers one through nine (every position) together gives a sum of 45. We know that two represents the catcher; so multiplying this sum by the catcher gives us the required answer of ninety.

To recap our list of the numbers used to represent each position in baseball scoring notation: P=1, C=2, 1B=3, 2B=4, 3B=5, SS=6, LF=7, CF=8, RF=9.
Next time you watch a game, you might want to try your hand at keeping score. Even if you don't, when someone says 'That putout went 6 to 3', you'll know that the shortstop fielded the ball, and threw it to first base to get the runner out, won't you?