Math Nerds, Rejoice – Working Stuff Out Sorta Looks Cool

It’s called Countdown and the math bit is actually one of the shorter bits. Loved by students and the unemployed alike as its one of the only things worth watching during the day!

Being a Brit, I can fill in the blanks…

The “Game Show” is called Countdown and revolves around contestants selecting a number of Letters (each time choosing either a random vowel or a random consonant) and then trying to make the longest work they can think of. Inter spaced between rounds are these number rounds.

This clip is quite old now, as Richard Whitely has now died, but the show is a favourite (dare I say it) amongst the older population given its late daytime slot and atmosphere.

Can’t say I personally like it, but then I’m 17…

Everyone in Britain knows Countdown, even if they don’t get to watch it. The presenter, Richard Whitely has sadly passed away now, but it’s still going strong 25 years since the very first edition. It may seem odd to those seeing it for the first time, but no one bats an eyelid in Britain. It’s a nation institution.

OMFG…You haven’t heard of Countdown???

You have some rounds of letters, where you pick consonants or vowels, and try to make the longest word out of the letters you get. I think its 3 or 4 rounds of that, before a number round. This repeats two more times, before the final conundrum, where its a nine letter anagram with first person to buzz in with the correct answer.

The lady doing the maths is Carol Vorderman, who manages to work out the answer nearly every time.

The show is a legend, and will never be the same to me now that Whitely has passed away.

Oh, and everyone lives for the day when the series of letters pulled out spells some sort of curse/controversial word.

Live Long Countdown!!

Right, now I’ve watched the clip…

This is yonks old…we don’t all dress like that in Britain. But, this is still how it works.

Also, there was one contestant a little while ago who picked 5 large numbers every time, so 25, 50, 75, 100, and would then do outstanding maths to get the answer. A joy to watch.

Totally saw that when I visited England a few years ago, and thought it was such a cool show and wondered why America didn’t have cool game shows like that.

Haven’t heard about it since! Yay for finding it.

@Mikey

I saw a clip one time where they spelt f**ked.

And I can’t believe people haven’t heard of countdown!
Jeez…

“F**cked”, eh? Well, if you haven’t seen much Countdown (which I haven’t), you are in for a treat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3R4kD80_fU

Hey guys, Americans won’t know about this – and I’m not even in America! Thanks for the heads up on the show.

Woah…what a great idea for a show. I would totally watch this. BTW, not sure if you can only use each number once but…

100(3+6)+50+(6/3) = 952

Yeah, can only use each number once, but you don’t have to use all of them.

Marc, I came up with the same solution once I heard that guy reuse 3 twice.

“Loved by students and the unemployed alike as its one of the only things worth watching during the day!”

So Countdown is the more intelligent UK equivalent of The Price is Right?

Actually based on a French show – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_chiffres_et_des_lettres