It's a knockout
This is a level 3-4 activity from the Figure It Out series. A PDF of the student activity is included.
About this resource
Figure It Out is a series of 80 books published between 1999 and 2009 to support teaching and learning in New Zealand classrooms.
This resource provides the teachers' notes and answers for one activity from the Figure It Out series. A printable PDF of the student activity can be downloaded from the materials that come with this resource.
It's a knockout
Required materials
- Figure It Out, Levels 3-4, Theme: Sport, "It's a knockout", page 13
See Materials that come with this resource to download:
- It's a knockout activity (.pdf)
Activity
Seeded knockout tournaments are organised so that two of the top players don’t meet in the early rounds of the competition. This avoids the possibility of a top seed, who may be a crowd favourite, being eliminated by another top seed in the first round.
- In a four-player tournament, the draw might be organised like this:
- In an eight-player, seeded tournament, the draw might be:
An interesting pattern is that the seedings for each pair of players in the first round add to nine.
Note also that the only place seeds 1 and 2 can play each other is in the final, should they reach it. Seeds 2 and 3 can only ever meet in the semi-final, and the same applies to seeds 1 and 4.
Two possible eight-player draws are given in the Answers.
1.
a.
- Alistair: 4th
- Joanna: 2nd or 3rd
- Steven: 2nd or 3rd
b. The top-ranked player usually plays the lowest ranked player in the first round. The position of Miriama on the draw suggests that Alistair is the 4th seed, and therefore Joanna and Steven must be the 2nd and 3rd seeds.
c. 3 games
2.
Two possible draws are:
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