OLYMPIC MATHS QUIZ ANSWERS
1. The Paris 2024 Olympics will have athletes competing in 32 sports. The first modern games in Athens in 1896 had only nine. What is the difference between the number of Olympic sports in 1896 and 2024?
32 – 9 = 23
2. Around 9,385 footballers from around the world have competed at the Olympic games. 20% of these came from just 18 nations. Calculate the number of footballers who came from these nations.
10% = 9385/10 = 938.5 20% = 938.5 x 2 = 1877
3. Athletes’ beds at the Paris 2024 Olympics are made out of cardboard. The ingenious design ensures that it is easy to transport, assemble and fully reusable and recyclable. They are designed to withstand the stress of up to 550 pounds in weight. How many kilograms is 550 lbs?
If 1 kg = 2.2 lb then 550 lbs = 550/2.2 = 250 kg
4. Paris 2024 Olympic medals have a hexagonal centrepiece (The hexagon replicates the outline of France and is made from recycled metal from recent renovation works at the Eiffel Tower!). What is the sum of the interior angles of a regular hexagon?
Sum of the exterior angles of any polygon = 360°.
A hexagon has six sides so each exterior angle = 360/6 = 60°.
Each interior angle + exterior angle = 180°. Therefore each interior angle of the regular hexagon = 180 – 60 = 120°. So the sum of the interior angles is 120 × 6 = 720°.
5. World Athletics has announced it will become the first international federation to award prize money at the Paris 2024 Olympic games. They have said a total prize pot of $2.4 million will be available for the winners of the 48 events. How much money will each of the gold medal winners receive? (Those in team events share the winning prize money.)
$2,400,000/48 = $50,000 (£39,370) for each Gold medal winner. Winning athletes are also awarded prize money from their individual countries. These amounts vary from country to country.
6. Do you think the distribution of money to the winners only is fair? What if the prize pot was shared out to gold, silver and bronze winners of the 48 events in the ratio 3:2:1?
If the prize money pot ($2,400,000) was awarded in the ratio 3:2:1 then for each event the $50000 would be divided up so that the gold winners would receive $25,000, silver would receive $16,667 and bronze $8333.
7. Paris 2024 will be the first Olympics in history to achieve numerical gender parity on the field of play, with an equal number of female and male athletes participating in the largest sporting event in the world. If there are 5,250 women competing, how many athletes are competing altogether?
5250 women + 5250 men = 10500 athletes in total
8. The only new sport for the 2024 Olympics is breaking. It is a style of dance that originated in the Bronx in New York during the 1970s. If you chose a letter from the word ‘breaking’ what would be the probability that you chose a vowel?
Of the eight letters in the word ‘breaking’ there are 3 vowels making the probability of choosing a vowel 3/8
9. The Olympic village in Paris has been constructed using wood and recycled materials. 35% of the rooftops are equipped with solar panels while another third has rooftop gardens meant to bring down the temperature inside. What percentage of the buildings have neither solar panels nor rooftop gardens?
If there are 35% with solar panels and 1/3 (33.3%) with rooftop gardens that leaves 100 – 35 – 33.3 with neither = 31.7%
10. The Olympic surfers will be 9,500 miles from Paris, on the remote Pacific island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia – a territory of France. How many kilometres is 9,500 miles?
Since 1 mile = 1.6 km, 9500 miles = 15289 km
11. Team GB won 67 medals in Rio (2016) and 64 medals in Tokyo (2020). At the Paris Olympics in 2024 they are predicted to win 62. If team GB win their predicted medal haul for 2024, what would be their average medal total over the last three Olympic games?
Total = 67 + 64 + 62 = 193 Average = 193/3 = 64.3 (64 whole medals!)
12. At the Paris Olympics in 2024 there will be 15,000 athletes and 44,500 volunteers (Games Makers). In its simplest form, what is the ratio of athletes to volunteers.
15,000 : 44,500 simplifies to 30 : 89
13. There will be a total of 19 days of competition at the Paris Olympics but some preliminary events will take place before the opening ceremony, such as archery qualifying and early rounds of rugby sevens, football and handball. 19 is a prime number. What is the 19th prime?
The 19th prime = 67