Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Fans from all over the world are currently watching in anticipation the Women's FIFA Cup Championships.
What does soccer have to do with math? As in any sport, math is hiding in the background. To score a goal, players have to determine quickly the optimal angle needed. Keeping time in soccer, the clock is not stopped, but time is added on to the end of the match to make up for stoppages in play; this amount needs to be calculated.
“Here at Mathnasium, we love soccer not just for the athletic beauty and sportsmanship, but also for the math inherent in so many parts of the game; some of it obvious, some so subtle you don’t even know it’s there. We’ve heard it said that soccer players are the ballet dancers of the sports world; we would add that soccer fans are the secret mathematicians of the sports world, whether they realize it or not. Watching any sport, but the World Cup in particular, is a great way to dust off and practice, in infinitely subtle ways, the basic math skills of your youth. And for those soccer fans with kids, there’s no better way to instill the fun of math than by watching the World Cup as a family.”
To learn more about the math involved with soccer, visit the Mathnasium Number Sense blog.
To help your student learn more about the math involved in sports and many other areas, contact us at 203-757-1234 to set up a free assessment and free trial session!
