The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [93]
To keep track of the score, you’ll need a scoreboard (a blackboard on the wall or a pen and pad of paper will work). Write out the numbers vertically for each player, from 20 down to 15, then “B” for bull’s-eye. Each player’s turn consists of three throws, and only darts that land in the numbers 15-20 or in the bull’s-eye count. (You don’t get points for hitting numbers 1-14.) Points start to accumulate once a number is closed, and are tallied as follows: the center of the bull’s-eye is worth 50 points and the outer ring of the bull’s-eye gets 25; numbers 15-20 are worth their face value, but landing in the doubles ring doubles the number’s value, and landing in the triple ring (the inner ring between the doubles ring and the bull’s-eye) triples it.
When a player hits a number once, you put a slash (/) by the number. When that number is hit a second time by a player, you turn the slash into an X. When that number is “closed,” or hit a third time, you draw a circle around the X. Once a number has been closed, if any player hits it, the points for that number go to the player who originally closed it. Once a number has been closed by all the players, no points are awarded for that number for the rest of the game. Total up the points after one player closes all her numbers plus the bull’s-eye, and the person or team with the highest number of points is the winner.
DART LINGO
Arrows: Darts
Bust: Hitting a number higher than you need to go out
Chucker: Indifferent thrower
Clock: Dartboard
Double In: Starting a game with a double
Double Out: Winning a game on a double
Hat Trick: Three bull’s-eyes
Leg: One game of a match
Slop: Hitting a number other than the intended
Trombones: A total turn score of 76 points
Wet Feet: Standing with your feet over the line
Math Tricks
EARLY IN THE LAST CENTURY, sometime between 1911 and 1918, a Hindu scholar and mathematician discovered ancient Indian scriptures outlining a series of mathematical formulas. This hitherto unexplored section of the ancient Indian Vedas, the sacred text written around 1500-900 BC, had been dismissed by scholars who had been unable to decipher any of the mathematics. But Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji dedicated himself to translating and examining the texts, and after years of study, he was able to reconstruct what turned out to be a unique system of aphorisms, or easily remembered rules, used to solve a range of mathematical problems from simple arithmetic to trigonometry and calculus. He called this “Vedic Mathematics,” playing on both meanings of the word veda, which essentially means “knowledge” but also refers to the ancient sacred literature of Hinduism, which dates back over 4,000 years. There are sixteen total sutras, or sayings, in Vedic math. The three discussed below will help in many of your everyday math problems: “By one more than the one before” (Ekadhikina Purvena); “All from 9 and the last from 10” (Nikhilam Navatashcaramam Dashatah); and “vertically and crosswise” (Urdhva-Tiryaghyham).
“By one more than the one before”
Remembering this sutra when squaring numbers ending in 5 can help you come up with the answer quickly, and without having to write anything down.
For instance: let’s take the number 352. To find the answer the usual way, we’d multiply 35 by 35 by writing down the numbers, doing the multiplication and addition, and finally arriving at 1225. Using this first sutra, “By one more than the one before,” we can do this problem in our heads. The answer has two parts to it: since the number we’re squaring ends in 5, the last two numbers will always be 25, because 5 × 5 is 25. To arrive at the first two numbers, we use the sutra multiplying “by one more than the one before.” In “35,” the number “before” the last number is 3. “One more” than 3 is 4. So we multiply 3 by 4 to get 12. We know the last two digits of our answer will be 25. So 1225 is our answer.