Secondary Sport Collection

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May the best person win

How can people be divided into groups fairly for events in the Paralympics, for school sports days, or for subject sets?

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Sport collection

Age

5 to 18

Challenge level

This is our collection of favourite mathematics and sport materials.

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Twenty20

Age

7 to 16

Challenge level

Fancy a game of cricket? Here is a mathematical version you can play indoors without breaking any windows.

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Five children are taking part in a climbing competition with three parts, where their score for each part will be multiplied together. Can you see how the leaderboard will change depending on what happens in the final climb of the competition?

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Performing beyond expectations - using sport to motivate students in mathematics lessons

In this article, Alan Parr shares his experiences of the motivating effect sport can have on the learning of mathematics.

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Olympic records

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

Can you deduce which Olympic athletics events are represented by the graphs?

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Olympic logic

Age

11 to 16

Challenge level

Can you use your powers of logic and deduction to work out the missing information in these sporty situations?

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Olympic measures

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

These Olympic quantities have been jumbled up! Can you put them back together again?

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Tournament scheduling

Scheduling games is a little more challenging than one might desire. Here are some tournament formats that sport schedulers use.

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Climbing complexity

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

In the 2020 Olympic Games, sport climbing was introduced for the first time, and something very interesting happened with the scoring system. Can you find out what was interesting about it?

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Who's the best?

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

Which countries have the most naturally athletic populations?

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Medal muddle

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

Countries from across the world competed in a sports tournament. Can you devise an efficient strategy to work out the order in which they finished?

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Who's the winner?

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

When two closely matched teams play each other, what is the most likely result?

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Stadium sightline

Age

14 to 18

Challenge level

How would you design the tiering of seats in a stadium so that all spectators have a good view?

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Speed-time problems at the Olympics

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to race against Usain Bolt?

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The Olympic torch tour

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Imagine you had to plan the tour for the Olympic Torch. Is there an efficient way of choosing the shortest possible route?

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Nutrition and cycling

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Andy wants to cycle from Land's End to John o'Groats. Will he be able to eat enough to keep him going?

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What's the point of squash?

Age

14 to 18

Challenge level

Under which circumstances would you choose to play to 10 points in a game of squash which is currently tied at 8-all?

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Olympic triathlon

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Is it the fastest swimmer, the fastest runner or the fastest cyclist who wins the Olympic Triathlon?

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The fastest cyclist

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Andy is desperate to reach John o'Groats first. Can you devise a winning race plan?

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Track design

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Where should runners start the 200m race so that they have all run the same distance by the finish?

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David and Goliath

Age

14 to 18

Challenge level

Does weight confer an advantage to shot putters?

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High jumping

How high can a high jumper jump? How can a high jumper jump higher without jumping higher? Read on...

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Alternative record book

Age

14 to 18

Challenge level

In which Olympic event does a human travel fastest? Decide which events to include in your Alternative Record Book.

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Decathlon: the art of scoring points

How do decisions about scoring affect who wins a combined event such as the decathlon?

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Training schedule

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

The heptathlon is an athletics competition consisting of 7 events. Can you make sense of the scoring system in order to advise a heptathlete on the best way to reach her target?

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Fa cup

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

In four years 2001 to 2004 Arsenal have been drawn against Chelsea in the FA cup and have beaten Chelsea every time. What was the probability of this? Lots of fractions in the calculations!

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Pole vaulting

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Consider the mechanics of pole vaulting

$\Little little g$

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Little little g

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

See how little g and your weight varies around the world. Did this variation help Bob Beamon to long-jumping succes in 1968?

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Light weights

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

See how the weight of weights varies across the globe.

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Any win for tennis?

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

What are your chances of winning a game of tennis?

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Playing squash

Playing squash involves lots of mathematics. This article explores the mathematics of a squash match and how a knowledge of probability could influence the choices you make.