Rachel Riley at the numbers board

[George Jenkins]

it is far more economical to say something like 100×(2×2 + 4) + 8×8 = 864 than to spell it all out laboriously as she does.

Economy of expression is often the enemy of comprehension, as is the case with text-speak for example. Bracketed arithmetic expressions with strict operator precedence are fine for computer programming languages where conciseness comes a close second to unambiguity. But, really, their top-down approach is counter-intuitive. When explaining a solution like the one above, a contestant will say something like, "I multiplied the 2s to get 4, then added 4 to get 8; I multiplied the 8 by the 100..." etc; and the way Carol and Rachel write it down reflects that. To do it your way, Rachel would have to start writing in the middle of the board, leaving plenty of space all round to extend the expression in either direction as the contestant goes through the explanation, and inevitably a certain amount of second-guessing would be required. The way it's currently done is sometimes long-winded but ultimately much simpler and clearer.

I have nothing but admiration for all you educated lads and lassies. you make maths and numbers look so easy, but I don't understand a word of it. I suppose that you had to be good if you competed on Countdown.
When I was a Union branch secretary for A.S.L.E.F (you know the one, hated by everybody). I had to let my younger brother add up the contributions I collected every Month. when I tried, I came up with a different figure every time.
However, I have compensations. I can do practically anything else. I can build a house, including the brickwork, the woodwork, the electrics,the plumbing. I am a qualified City and Guilds Plumber. I went in for that because I was so poor as an Engine driver, I had to do another job,as most of us did. I can Paint, and at 13 years old my picture was framed and hung in the teacher's staff room. Another of my achievements, was beating the Kent Chess Champion in postal chess.

Another one of my assets is a strong sense of humility and modesty, and if only I could add up, I would be perfect.

However! My cunning plan to get rich by being a full time Plumber came to nought, when I developed Angina. I stayed on the Railway and suddenly became rich when I retired with a nice pension.

[Gary Male]

Don't be sorry. There's a far greater crime at the numbers board: The numbers are never written to fit inside the squares on the paper! This is an outrage, and I for one am seriously thinking about watching the show again just so I can write a letter to the producer saying why I'm boycotting it.

[David Williams]

Not as outrageous as the way she writes 9's. Starting at the bottom like upside-down 6's. Someone's going to try that at home and dislocate something and then they'll be sorry.

[Jason Larsen]

I don't see that, David?

[Jon Corby]

Not as outrageous as the way she writes 9's. Starting at the bottom like upside-down 6's. Someone's going to try that at home and dislocate something and then they'll be sorry.

That's the cool way to do 9s

[Jennifer McElroy]

"Cool" I don't think so..immature maybe. To me it is the numerical equivalent of holding a writing instrument within a whole fist.

[Ian Fitzpatrick]

Not as outrageous as the way she writes 9's. Starting at the bottom like upside-down 6's. Someone's going to try that at home and dislocate something and then they'll be sorry.

That's the cool way to do 9s

She doesn't always do them that way. I did cool nines once but got bored with it too.

[Kathleen Batlle]

I find that once you start writing a number in a certain way you can't stop. I found this when I came to Spain to live. I had never written a number 7 with a line across the middle (as they do here), but now I just do it automatically even though I tried not to ....... or am I just being ridiculous?

[Clare Sudbery]

I always put lines through my 7s, because oherwise it's too easy for them to get muddled with 1s, which in turn I draw with a hook so they don't get confused with lower-case Ls...

I picked up the habit when I was learning French at school, and the explanation for the line made so much sense to me. Really confuses my 6-yr-old son though, cos they don't do 7s like that at school and he's never quite sure what I mean when I'm helping him with homework and write a 7.

[Gary Male]

I always put lines through my 7s, because oherwise it's too easy for them to get muddled with 1s, which in turn I draw with a hook so they don't get confused with lower-case Ls...

I picked up the habit when I was learning French at school, and the explanation for the line made so much sense to me. Really confuses my 6-yr-old son though, cos they don't do 7s like that at school and he's never quite sure what I mean when I'm helping him with homework and write a 7.

This comes right from the "and you thought Countdowners were picky..." files.

On 15-1 for years they used to put up the contestant application address with a line through the 7. Then they changed it to no line due to the number of complaints from viewers that the 7 with the line through was too European!

[Pete Fraser]

On 15-1 for years they used to put up the contestant application address with a line through the 7. Then they changed it to no line due to the number of complaints from viewers that the 7 with the line through was too European!

I think it was one complaint, and that from an asshole.

[Hannah O]

My mother who works at a primary school says that children get encouraged to write 9s the "proper" way, and she complains about the way Rachel writes her numbers whenever we watch Countdown. Her 4s are particularly off-putting, not in the design so much as the way she writes it. I personally don't write my 4s like this (i.e. how they appear in this post). I used to, but now I don't. I also used to write my 2s in one quick flourish like that, but now I write them like the 2s you see in this post.

Also, and this is off-topic since we're talking about the numbers board, but I noticed that Rachel says her Rs in a similar way to Carol, so I suppose I can't complain- I just didn't notice that Carol said it the same way too...

[Roxanne]

My maths teacher always used to complain about the way I wrote my 4s and 9s. To be fair they both looked exactly the same, so he did have a point.

[David Roe]

Maybe she could start her 6's from the bottom, like upside-down 9's?

[Hannah O]

David: I would find that not only quite distressing but traumatising too...alright, if it was a choice between writing her 6s like upside-down 9s or 9s like upside-down 6s, I could learn to live with the second option.

[David Roe]

She drew a 9 from the top today, and it wasn't a great success. The loop was almost closed.

[Hannah O]

From the top? Wow! I'd better watch everything on catch-up (hopefully before the end of Sunday!) At least she's trying, you have to give her credit for it.

[Ben Hunter]

The way she wrote one of her 9s today was ludicrous. It started off okay when she drew the loop, but she then ended up making the tail of the 9 go back on itself, forming a second loop beneath the first. How can we take Rachel Riley's solutions seriously when can't even get a handle on the basics?

[Ben Wilson]

The way she wrote one of her 9s today was ludicrous. It started off okay when she drew the loop, but she then ended up making the tail of the 9 go back on itself, forming a second loop beneath the first. How can we take Rachel Riley's solutions seriously when can't even get a handle on the basics?

Yawn.

[Jon O'Neill]

The way she wrote one of her 9s today was ludicrous. It started off okay when she drew the loop, but she then ended up making the tail of the 9 go back on itself, forming a second loop beneath the first. How can we take Rachel Riley's solutions seriously when can't even get a handle on the basics?

Yawn.

The joke.









































Your head.