Football: The Math of the Game

by Shane Frederick

Overview

How much area is there in an entire football field? How do you determine a quarterbacks rating? What is the longest field goal kicked in NFL history? Head to the gridiron to learn about the math of football!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429665674
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	07/01/2011
Series:	Sports Math Series
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	IG960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Shane Frederick has been writing about sports since he worked for his high school newspaper in Wisconsin. He currently covers college hockey and other sports for "The Free Press" newspaper in Mankato, Minnesota, and has won awards for his stories from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists. He is also the author of several sports books, including "The Best of Everything Football Book" and "The Ultimate Guide to Pro Football Teams". A graduate of the University of St. Thomas, Shane lives in Mankato with his wife, Sara, their three children, Ben, Jack, and Lucy, and their dog, Molly.

Table of Contents

Football and math — The basics — Offense — Defense and special teams — Applying the math.

Editorial Reviews

The last thing chili-eating, pennant-waving gridiron fans are thinking of is math, right? Au contraire! First and 10, moving the chains, field-goal ranges, running averages, pass distribution—in fact, no sport seems to lend itself to number crunching like football, hence the value of this title in the Sports Math series. It is produced in conjunction with Sports Illustrated: Kids, and that is evident in the dazzling layout, which includes countless vivid photographs and overlays of facts and figures that could have come straight from the Telestrator of a master commentator. That is the real draw: play-by-play announcers—a dream job of many young sports fans—are statisticians at heart. And here the practical math runs the gamut, from fairly simple time-of-possession percentage conversions to the kind of Pythagorean theorem tight-end route calculations that would make Brent Musburger’s head spin. This takes its concept and runs all the way to the end zone with it—dense and heavy, but undoubtedly impressive.

Booklist

Here is another in a series of informational books featuring sports and math in a high-appeal format. Richly colored photographs of football players, teams and games are punctuated by explanatory text and insets that feature math problems. Examples range from algebra to geometry, linking the sport and mathematics in a series of short, dense chapters. These are nicely organized to present a developmental perspective. The introductory piece gives an overview of football and how math is related to the sport, followed by chapters about the "basics," "offense," and "defense and special teams." The concluding discussion is titled "applying the math." Sports fans will love the brief descriptions of highlights from famous games and the real life uses of mathematical functions to calculate scores, averages and winning points. The book also features a glossary, a short resource list, Internet resources and an index. Teachers will delight in this excellent resource, as will reluctant readers and readers who are fearful of math. The book is produced with high quality paper and binding to withstand handling in classrooms or libraries.

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database Newsletter

Both books present the mathematical concepts involved in the sports of basketball and football, including measurement, angles, probability, area, mean, median, mode, and statistics. Bar graphs, pie charts, and tables help organize the information, making it easier for students in grades 5-9 to understand. . . .I would recommend both books as excellent resources for classroom and school libraries. Boys and girls alike will learn many interesting facts about the sports and how they related to math.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM Teaching Children Mathematics

Relevance is an important aspect of learning and an interested student will be able to link math skills and sports in these Sports Illustrated Kids books. For example, baseball data is used to figure batting averages, the Pythagorean Theorem is used to figure angles in hockey, basic statistics are calculated using football statistics, and geometry is explored by figuring the area of various parts of the basketball court. Each book is visually appealing and reflects the high energy level of these athletic activities using popular athletes and exciting action shots. The publisher’s portal leads to websites for more information related to the book. A student that is interested in athletics will be able to relate to the math principles that are a part of these various sports. Recommended.

Library Media Connection