What if you’re REALLY crap at arithmetic?

[Billy]

I once heard a rumour that the 80s player Tony Meo used to take a little calculator into matches with him. Whether that’s true or not is by the by but it does make me wonder. I know for a fact, that my mathematical abilities are so poor I would not be able to work out whether or not I needed snookers, let alone complicated matters like knowing if you potted the last red and a colour, you could tie with one snooker (instead of two snookers to win, etc etc).

They say that darts players don’t need to be particularly gifted with numbers, as they use other formulas for knowing what to play for. Is this the same for snooker players?

[Nifty50]

Good question. There is a lot you can do with memory. Most snooker players can memorise one red left is 35, two reds is 43 etc etc. That bit is fine. The tricky bit is when you look at the scoreboard and have to calculate the difference. What is, for example, 77 less 19? The ref isn’t allowed to tell you so you have to work it out yourself. Some players are better than others.

[Billy]

Good question. There is a lot you can do with memory. Most snooker players can memorise one red left is 35, two reds is 43 etc etc. That bit is fine. The tricky bit is when you look at the scoreboard and have to calculate the difference. What is, for example, 77 less 19? The ref isn’t allowed to tell you so you have to work it out yourself. Some players are better than others.

I suppose they are (some betters than others) but it doesn’t seem to matter who it is, they never seem to spend more than a few seconds looking at the scoreboard to work the situation out. I mean, you have to work out what’s left, then work out the difference, and then calculate how many points you need in fouls in order to win. I’d get warned by the ref for slow play, while I stood there for 5+ minutes trying to work it all out!

[itsnoteasy]

Good question. There is a lot you can do with memory. Most snooker players can memorise one red left is 35, two reds is 43 etc etc. That bit is fine. The tricky bit is when you look at the scoreboard and have to calculate the difference. What is, for example, 77 less 19? The ref isn’t allowed to tell you so you have to work it out yourself. Some players are better than others.

If you struggle a bit with the 77-19 type sums an easy way to do it is rounding up or down, so round the 19 up to 20 and the 77 up to 78, it's a lot easier taking 20 off 78.
a quick round down one could be 68- 23 so round down 23 to 20 and the 68 to 65. 65-20 again is much easier.

[Nifty50]

INE. Yep there’s little things you can learn. A few weeks ago I was playing a guy who struggles a bit with the arithmetic. He scored 17 and was clearly struggling to add it on. I told him to put 20 on and take 3 off. Obvious to me but not to him.

[PatBlock]

I hope nobody ever quizzes me on my 8 times table, because I automatically add 27 now. 5 x 8 = 67 in my world.

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[Cue crafty]

INE. Yep there’s little things you can learn. A few weeks ago I was playing a guy who struggles a bit with the arithmetic. He scored 17 and was clearly struggling to add it on. I told him to put 20 on and take 3 off. Obvious to me but not to him.

That works so well on a snooker scoreboard, slide the twenty marker forward and the 1-19 slider back three places. Make life easy!

[vmax]

INE. Yep there’s little things you can learn. A few weeks ago I was playing a guy who struggles a bit with the arithmetic. He scored 17 and was clearly struggling to add it on. I told him to put 20 on and take 3 off. Obvious to me but not to him.

It's down to modern education, pupils are allowed to use calculators so the actual mechanics of arithmetic isn't taught. I struggled when I first played darts, not with my out shots as they become automatic through memory, but with being the scorer and subtracting a score from a players total, but as said before I used to subtract to the nearest hundred/ten and then add or subtract the single number from that. ie: if a player scored 68 I would subtract 70 and then add 2, or if a player scored 62 I would subtract 60 and then subtract a further 2.

Example, player scores 77 and his total is 301, subtract 80 from 301 for 221 and then add 3 for 224.

Example, players scores 132 and his total is 403, subtract 100 from 403 for 303 then subtract 30 from 303 for 273 and then subtract a further 2 for 271, break it up rather than try to subtract the whole number.

Decimalise it then add or subtract the odd number you have removed or added to/ from the equation.

[ludwellwill]

Hi,
I've played around with a few free apps and found this one to have the most user friendly interface.
works on Android phones/tablets..

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...s.snookerscore


Not for everyone but another option if really struggling

[ludwellwill]

Also have this one on a very old iPad

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/snooke...r/id1009220459

Again lovely clear display and functions