Maths Online

May 2002 May news

Mathematical possibilities in World Cup 2002

1. Probability of a team winning

This is one way of working out which team is going to win the World Cup. The last time Argentina won the World Cup was in 1986, and previous to that it was 1978. If you add 1978 and 1986, the answer is 3964. The last time Germany won the World Cup was in 1990, the time before that was in 1974. If you add these two figures, the answer is 3964. Brazil last won the World Cup in 1994, and before that it was 1970. If you add these two figures the answer is 3964.
BUT England last won the World Cup in 1966. If you add this figure to 1998, the answer is 3964. Unfortunately, France won the World Cup in 1998.
2002 + 1962 = 3964. Brazil won in 1962. 2002?

2. How the matches are organised

Divide the 32 countries into 8 groups. How many group matches does this make?
How many matches are there altogether?
Investigate the number of matches played in previous World Cups: 24 teams, 16 teams.

3. Statistics about the 32 countries: population density, compare areas, compare populations.

4. Statistics - number of goals scored:

per match,
per group.

Now calculate the number of goals scored by:

strikers,
midfield players,
defenders,
keepers.

What was the difference between the number of goals scored at half-time and full-time?

5. Flags - rotational symmetry, reflective symmetry, ratio, fraction and percentage of each colour.

Use the above statistics to calculate attendances:

What was the total number of people that watched the games?
What and where was the highest attendance?
What and where was the lowest attendance?
Round the attendance figures up to the nearest thousand.

Download information about each competing country and all of the players.

6. World Cup statistics of 208 countries This is an amazing source of World Cup football statistics. Use the site to calculate the:

number of matches played, won, drawn and lost by each country,
number of goals for and against,
average number of points per game,
average number of goals for per game,
average number of goals against per game.

7. 2002 World Cup groups - details about the eight groups, information about each team and a page showing all the flags.

8. The following links are to pdf files. To download: right click and 'save target as'.

General information about the 32 teams - population, area, number of players, number of clubs, number of professional players. Work out the average number of players per square kilometre and the average number of clubs per square kilometre.
Statistics about players from the competing countries - birth date, matches played in 2002 World Cup, minutes played, goals scored, own goals, yellow and red cards.
All-time World Cup records - number of teams in the final stages, number of matches, highest goal scorer, result of the final.
World Cup TV viewing figures
All-time World Cup superlatives - most individual appearances, youngest/oldest players, biggest wins, fastest yellow and red cards.