Reaction Math with High Scores

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-06 16:56:56

I promised to add a High Scores facility to Reaction Math, and I now have something for you to *try out*

I am not saying it works properly yet, but well enough for you to play with

The "Score" is basically your speed in questions per minute, but with a 2 question penalty per incorrect answer. You need to press the "Attempt" button, as it sets how many questions you need to answer (40 usually, but 30 for harder levels).

All opinions and corrections, including scoring method, etc, welcome

(If we don't make any fundamental changes your scores will stand, otherwise I may have to wipe them if we change things a lot)

Jai Ganesh · 2007-01-06 17:26:14

Thats a good job, MathsIsFun!
Speed is essential, in fact, it is this which separates the chaff from the grain!!! Mathematicians are expected to think ptetty quickly....
The importance of the time factor for mathematicians can well be understood from the fact that the Field's Medal, the Nobel equivalent in mathematics, is not given to people over 40! Which mans, if you haven't done something wothwhile before 40, you would never do!
Once again, well done, Captain

Toast · 2007-01-06 20:31:32

Excellent! The highscore board is a great addition.

Devantè · 2007-01-06 20:51:12

Very nice, MathsIsFun. I'll be playing this all day.

Also, the 'é' is still driving it crazy...

Toast · 2007-01-06 21:26:50

I think you should only keep the highest score for each user, to prevent the scoreboards from being bogged down by hundreds of records.

mathsyperson · 2007-01-07 02:43:31

I agree with that suggestion completely. As well as his reason, it also means that all of our bad attempts don't get recorded/can be replaced by better ones.

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-07 09:41:25

Thanks ... so just two things to fix:

1. Devant"e", and
2. Only highest score

I will get on to it soon.

Is 40/30 an adequate number of questions? Is scoring fair?

justlookingforthemoment · 2007-01-07 21:44:50

MathsIsFun wrote:

I will get on to it soon.

That was quick.

So, does clicking 'add to high score' now mean it overwrites your current score (even if it is lower) or keeps the highest one?

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-08 00:03:14

Keeps the highest ... and if it doesn't just let me know

So far I have kept all high scores. I am still working on it. Nothing good comes easy

mathsyperson · 2007-01-08 01:43:18

If you click "add to high scores" then if the score you just got was better than your previous best then it overwrites it, but if it wasn't then it records it separately. So it's still recording multiple results from the same people.

Edit: Oh, no it's not. Those separate results get removed once you go away, and presumably are only shown to you in the first place.

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-08 10:00:51

Yes. I check to see if your score was on the board, if not I show "..." then your score, so you can gauge how far off you are. Good idea?

mathsyperson · 2007-01-08 10:38:03

Yes, very good. It means that you can temporarily see the times from all your different attempts, which would let you work out your average and how consistent you are, but also not clutter up the high score board. I like how that works a lot.

justlookingforthemoment · 2007-01-08 12:58:26

Oh great ... I added to the High Scores as a Guest!

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-08 13:05:20

LOL!

But it does show that I should think of a way of asking you to log in if you aren't. Too complicated to figure that out right now, though

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-08 13:11:12

BTW: how did Toast get 99 on "Add Single" ? I see mathsy has made a valiant effort to reach 90.

justlookingforthemoment · 2007-01-08 14:18:35

Yes, I noticed that. Too good, too good!

I've also noticed that when the score is a whole number, e.g. I got 80, it doesn't show the two decimal places. Is is good the way it is, or should it be consistent (so it all lines up, too!)?

Toast · 2007-01-08 15:51:32

MathsIsFun wrote:

BTW: how did Toast get 99 on "Add Single" ? I see mathsy has made a valiant effort to reach 90.

Hmm, let's see, some pepsi (for energy), a lot of attempts, minor headache, and a lot of luck.

BTW: I think I got around .5 to .6 average time and all answers correct.

Last edited by Toast (2007-01-08 20:15:36)

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-08 22:01:40

OK, just a warning: I have added some security to avoid submitting scores by stealth. It works for me, hopefully it works for you still.

You should see a small "v1.1" in the top right hand corner, if not, use refresh.

Hope it still works

BTW: if "High Scores" works for everyone, I could extend it to other games. In fact ... what games would you like?

mathsyperson · 2007-01-09 02:01:44

I'm not sure what other games we have where it would be useful to have a high score list. In most of them, you just play them and either win or lose, with no score involved.

Incidentally, how are the scores for the reaction math worked out? It's presumably something to do with combining the number of right answers with the average time, but I don't see what the formula could be. Is it possible to break 100?

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-09 09:48:35

The score is: (TotalAnswers - 2*WrongAnswers) * (60000/TotalElapsed)

TotalElapsed is in milliSeconds

mathsyperson · 2007-01-09 10:21:50

Ah, I see. That's quite good actually, because it means that each wrong answer penalises your score more heavily than the previous one.

So, that means that to get a score of 100, we need an average of 0.6s per answer (assuming we got them all right).

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-09 19:58:14

mathsyperson wrote:

So, that means that to get a score of 100, we need an average of 0.6s per answer (assuming we got them all right).

Yes, and considering that underlying reaction times are between 0.2s and 0.3s it doesn't leave much time to read the question, get the answer and choose the right fingers for the answer.

You may be able to get a small improvement by bypassing your "reaction time" and getting a rhythm going. Just a thought.

Toast · 2007-01-09 20:11:47

Yep, I usually find the first few questions are the slowest, and then the rest come much faster.

Toast · 2007-01-10 16:20:37

It would be nice if we had a weekly or even daily high-score board to encourage more use of this mathematical tool. Otherwise, once the 'eternal' highscores have been set, usage may stagnate.

MathsIsFun · 2007-01-10 17:44:09

Exactly! Thank you "Champ"

You can still win a running race even if you don't break a world record.

So ... you click on "High Scores", and it shows you the the High Scores for the week, and there is another button "All Time High Scores"? Something like that?

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2007-01-06 16:56:56

Reaction Math with High Scores

#2 2007-01-06 17:26:14

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#3 2007-01-06 20:31:32

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#4 2007-01-06 20:51:12

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#5 2007-01-06 21:26:50

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#6 2007-01-07 02:43:31

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#7 2007-01-07 09:41:25

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#8 2007-01-07 21:44:50

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#9 2007-01-08 00:03:14

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#10 2007-01-08 01:43:18

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#11 2007-01-08 10:00:51

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#12 2007-01-08 10:38:03

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#13 2007-01-08 12:58:26

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#14 2007-01-08 13:05:20

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#15 2007-01-08 13:11:12

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#16 2007-01-08 14:18:35

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#17 2007-01-08 15:51:32

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#18 2007-01-08 22:01:40

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#19 2007-01-09 02:01:44

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#20 2007-01-09 09:48:35

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#21 2007-01-09 10:21:50

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#22 2007-01-09 19:58:14

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#23 2007-01-09 20:11:47

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#24 2007-01-10 16:20:37

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

#25 2007-01-10 17:44:09

Re: Reaction Math with High Scores

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