PT-WWTBAM Transcript 08/20/09 - (Celebrity) Steve Nash

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Steve Nash
Phoenix, AZ
Two-time NBA MVP from the Phoenix Suns

Steve didn't play basketball until the eighth grade, when all his friends were playing it.

Steve has brought his jersey with him, on the condition that if he gets it right, Regis will wear it.

Steve's charity is the Steve Nash Foundation, which is supporting Educare, an early education program for at-risk kids.


$50,000
Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Steve thinks he knows the answer, but math was never his strong suit. He decides to Ask The Expert.

Mo: Okay, it's going to be either, the ummm--unless, I'm guessing a half marathon is indeed a half marathon, 13 miles; it's not some weird kind of thing like a baker's dozen kind of thing, where it doesn't mean-- So, ten half-marathons is going to be bigger than four marathons.

Regis: Mo, you're beginning to ramble!

Mo: Sorry! I'm sorry. I'm at home, it's my prerogative. You're lucky I'm wearing clothes!

Regis: Take your time. Take your time.

Mo: Ten half-marathons is like five marathons. Uh, ummm, and uh, umm, and five mara--five--wow, okay. So five marathons would be 130 miles, and a mile is 5,000, ummm--OH, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, IT'S GOTTA BE TEN HALF-MARATHONS! IT'S TEN HALF-MARATHONS!

Regis; Ten half-marathons. Are you sure of that, Mo?

Mo: I--ah--you know--look, I--I mean, my head's gonna explode.

Regis: Very funny, Mo, and possibly the correct answer, so you're saying ten half-marathons.

Mo: Yes, that's correct.

Steve: Well, regardless of whether we're correct or not, that was well worth the price. ... C: Ten half-marathons, final answer.

Answer

C: Ten half-marathons

[ten96lt]

Annnnnnnnnnnnddddddddd. que the people asking didn't anybody notice Regis put the jersey on backwards?
After taping, two women said "you have it on backwards!" and Regis being himself goes on and on how this was a great thing to get the question right and puts it on then he hears HE PUT IT ON BACKWARDS! with everyone laughing.

[TheConfessor]

$50,000
Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Steve thinks he knows the answer, but math was never his strong suit. He decides to Ask The Expert.

In other threads, people have commented that this is much harder than the math questions that Patricia Heaton and Wynonna Judd were asked, because it requires not just arithmetic, but a knowledge of race distances and metric conversions. It appears that way on the surface, but that's not really true. The question is easily gettable with absolutely no knowledge of marathon distances or metric conversions.

It's a simple two step process:
1) Which is bigger, A or B? 20 X 5 = 100. 15 X 10 = 150. So you can eliminate A.
2) Which is bigger, C or D? 10 X 0.5 = 5. 4 X 1 = 4. So you can eliminate D.

So the answer is obviously either B or C, with absolutely no knowledge of conversion factors or race distances. So you Double Dip and you are guaranteed to be correct.

Mo Rocca was pretty good, but he never seemed to have a firm handle on the situation. He got the answer, but didn't seem to know why.

[ten96lt]

$50,000
Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Steve thinks he knows the answer, but math was never his strong suit. He decides to Ask The Expert.

In other threads, people have commented that this is much harder than the math questions that Patricia Heaton and Wynonna Judd were asked, because it requires not just arithmetic, but a knowledge of race distances and metric conversions. It appears that way on the surface, but that's not really true. The question is easily gettable with absolutely no knowledge of marathon distances or metric conversions.

It's a simple two step process:
1) Which is bigger, A or B? 20 X 5 = 100. 15 X 10 = 150. So you can eliminate A.
2) Which is bigger, C or D? 10 X 0.5 = 5. 4 X 1 = 4. So you can eliminate D.

So the answer is obviously either B or C, with absolutely no knowledge of conversion factors or race distances. So you Double Dip and you are guaranteed to be correct.

Mo Rocca was pretty good, but he never seemed to have a firm handle on the situation. He got the answer, but didn't seem to know why.

This would have been perfect with the clock though because people's minds would have been racing since theres the pressure which would have made it harder to see it from that POV

[NellyLunatic1980]

Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Another math question... but at least this one is properly valued and requires some thinking.

Twenty 5K races = ten 10K races, so A is automatically out.

Ten half-marathons = five marathons, so D is automatically out.

After converting the meters to miles and doing all of the multiplication, I came up with C within the imaginary 45 seconds.

[Jeemie]

$50,000
Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Steve thinks he knows the answer, but math was never his strong suit. He decides to Ask The Expert.

In other threads, people have commented that this is much harder than the math questions that Patricia Heaton and Wynonna Judd were asked, because it requires not just arithmetic, but a knowledge of race distances and metric conversions. It appears that way on the surface, but that's not really true. The question is easily gettable with absolutely no knowledge of marathon distances or metric conversions.

It's a simple two step process:
1) Which is bigger, A or B? 20 X 5 = 100. 15 X 10 = 150. So you can eliminate A.
2) Which is bigger, C or D? 10 X 0.5 = 5. 4 X 1 = 4. So you can eliminate D.

So the answer is obviously either B or C, with absolutely no knowledge of conversion factors or race distances. So you Double Dip and you are guaranteed to be correct.

Mo Rocca was pretty good, but he never seemed to have a firm handle on the situation. He got the answer, but didn't seem to know why.

On the contrary, I think he knew why.

This is just his schtick.

And while you are correct in your assessment, if I had been in the Hot Seat, I would have wanted to figure this out and not use a LL.

[MarleysGh0st]

1. Mo is funny.

2. As for using his shtick in this situation, contrast and compare to "I'll sell it to you for a sandwich."

3. If Mo is ever an expert on the show again, he can transcribe his own blatherings!

[NellyLunatic1980]

3. If Mo is ever an expert on the show again, he can transcribe his own blatherings!

I'll be surprised if Mo is not brought back.

[frogman042]

I thought Mo was great and sold his answer - clearly if he pointed out the length of the metric ones it would have been clearer, but he clearly knew the right answer. I liked how he considered the possibility that a Half-Marathon might not literaly mean the race is half the distance of a full marathon. It showed that he really thought through multiple aspects of the question. Likewise with his earlier analysis of the Jules Verne question - he took the trouble if thinking outside the box for alternate possible, non-obvious answers, and then appropriately dismisses them. It also provides fodder for the HSer to consider these concepts as well.

Some might not like that as muddling the water and make it more confusing, but I'm of the opinion that the more data and ideas the better.

[15QuestionsAway]

Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Another math question... but at least this one is properly valued and requires some thinking.

Twenty 5K races = ten 10K races, so A is automatically out.

Ten half-marathons = five marathons, so D is automatically out.

After converting the meters to miles and doing all of the multiplication, I came up with C within the imaginary 45 seconds.

I don't understand why you didn't make it easier on yourself by converting to metric (instead of from metric). It wouldn't have taken you anywhere near 45 s, given your obvious math skills.

It's clear that the longer metric distance totals 150 km. I know that a marathon is 42.2 km, but you could have figured it out with one conversion. Five marathons is obviously over 200 km, which makes C the correct answer.

[Jeemie]

Which of these combinations of road races would require a participant to run the farthest?

A: Twenty 5K races B: Fifteen 10K races
C: Ten half-marathons D: Four marathons

Another math question... but at least this one is properly valued and requires some thinking.

Twenty 5K races = ten 10K races, so A is automatically out.

Ten half-marathons = five marathons, so D is automatically out.

After converting the meters to miles and doing all of the multiplication, I came up with C within the imaginary 45 seconds.

I don't understand why you didn't make it easier on yourself by converting to metric (instead of from metric). It wouldn't have taken you anywhere near 45 s, given your obvious math skills.

It's clear that the longer metric distance totals 150 km. I know that a marathon is 42.2 km, but you could have figured it out with one conversion. Five marathons is obviously over 200 km, which makes C the correct answer.

It takes only one conversion going from meters to miles as well.

150 km equals slightly less than 100 miles.

10 half-marathons equals 130 miles.

Done.