Final Jeopardy: Geographic Math (4-23-13)
The Final Jeopardy question (4/23/2013) in the category “Geographic Math” was:
North America’s 3 mainland countries have a total of 91 states and provinces; Mexico has this many states.
New champ Michael Ellis won $16,401 in yesterday’s match. Today he will try for another win against these two players: Bill Hawkins from New York, NY; and Laurel Schultz from Durham, NC.
Michael found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Taste Buds.” He was in the lead with $6,200, $1,400 more than Laurel in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
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Michael finished in the lead with $8,200. Laurel was second with $7,000 and Bill was last with $2,200.
Bill found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “20th Century Playwrights.” He had $2,600, $5,600 less than Michael’s lead. He bet $2,500 and he was RIGHT.
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Laurel found the last Daily Double in “All-Time 100 Songs.” She had $15,000, $2,000 less than Michael in the lead. She bet $5,000 and she was RIGHT.
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Laurel finished in the lead with $22,400. Michael was right behind her with $21,800. Bill was in third place with $8,700.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS 31?
The USA has 50 states, Canada has 10 provinces. Mexico has 31 states.
Bill got it right and bet it all. He doubled his score to $17,400.
Michael wrote down 37 at first, then crossed that out and wrote down 38. He lost a whopping $19,598 so he finished with $2,202.
Laurel wrote down 35 and also bet big. She lost $21,600 and landed in third place with $800.
So Bill Hawkins, a thoroughly surprised former attorney turned hotel concierge, became the new Jeopardy! champ in one of those times that we see “the last shall be first and the first shall be last” in action.
Took me 2 Days to find you. I watch Jeopardy every night . Tuesday April 23rd’s answer was incorrect.
Hawaii is not part of North America, it’s part
Of Polynesia so 91 is incorrect.
A redo is in order.
Bob
Michael and Laurel were not even close, which is fortunate for the show. They didn’t know the answer, Bill did. I’ll be cheering him on tonight!
Let’s look at this another way and suppose the clue read “North America’s 3 mainland countries have a total of 91 states and provinces. The United States has 50 states. Canada has this many provinces and Mexico has this many states.” Michael and Laurel still would have failed at FJ because they did not know how many Canadian provinces there are.
Agreed! Bill wasn’t doing the math he just wrote down the correct answer. I was just there, too.
I’ve heard that from Mexican friends, too, everyone knows 50 U.S. states but so few know 31 Mexican states. I’d bet it all that if they reversed it and said starting with 91 how many Canadian provinces few would get that, either. Alex would, of course. I was just in Cancun. Everyone there was from Canada!
Those who say all the contestants’ answers were wrong miss the point. The correct answer to how many states there are in Mexico, with or without Jeopardy’s “math,” is 31. Bill wrote that down right away.
Final Jeopardy was disappointing. It disses our amigos; no one would possibly know there are 31 states in Mexico without starting at 91 and subtracting?! Canadian Alex Trebek emphasized this, with a let’s see who could do that math. It’s not always the case I know the answer (or, I should say question), but at our house, I said, “What is 31, which IS how many states there are, unless they are counting Mexico City the way DC sometimes gets listed, and I am only noting that because Hawaii is not a part of the mainland.” I’m not that smart, but I know that, and Mexican friends I know are very aware they are expected to know every US state but few know Guanajuato from Quintana Roo. Of course, no one could write all that in the time allotted for Final Jeopardy. I don’t know how long that is, but if we start with 30 minutes, Double Jeopardy takes up 10 minutes, commercials take up……
I agree that “mainland” excludes Hawaii. It is part of the US as a state, but it is not part of the “mainland” so I think the final answer was incorrect
VJ is right. “Mainland” was used to disqualify Greenland, and the Carribean countries of North America. Once the 3 countries were established, the question related to their total states and provinces.
Hawaii should not have been included. Trebek needs to fix this….. they all were wrong. I expect more from Jeopardy staffers.
Why didn’t they count Canada’s three territories?
If you read the clue carefully, the mainland part refers to the countries not the states.
How many states in Mexico was the question worth 10 times the amount won (the 5th grade Bonus Question) on the syndicated version of 5th Grader one time.
Hawaii is part of the United States :)
Since when is Hawaii in North America???
I am with Michelle!!
Is Hawaii really part of the mainland? 49 mainland since Alaska is attached.