One Sunday, Rick had to teach his Sunday
Western Swing dance class at 4:30 pm. Unfortunately
this meant he had to miss watching the Texans –
Cowboy football game on TV. Since the Texans had
not been playing very well, Rick figured he was
probably just sparing himself further agony.
That evening Rick saw Ann show
up for her 7 pm Sunday Ballroom dance class.
Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked Ann if she
knew who had won the football game.
Ann smiled. “You really missed
a good game, Rick! The fans were on the edge of
their seats!”
“Is that so?” Rick replied. “So
who won?”
“There was scoring by both
teams in every quarter,” Ann replied. “The
game was very exciting!”
“That doesn’t answer my
question. Who won?” Rick was growing impatient.
He sensed he had missed a good one.
“Well, it was kind of odd.
There was plenty of scoring, but there weren’t any
touchdowns. All the points came on three
point field goals and two point safeties. I’ve never
seen so many safeties and field
goals in my life!”
“That sounds pretty unusual,”
Rick agreed. “But who won?”
“The scoring
was spread out. Both teams
scored in every quarter.
However, not once did any point
total match another quarter. In other words, eight different
totals of points were reached in the Texans’ four
quarters and the Cowboys’ four quarters combined.”
Ann continued on with her
description of the game. “Neither team scored
in double digits in any quarter. The poor Texans
got off to a terrible start.
They only managed to get half as many points in their
first quarter as the Cowboys got in the third
quarter.”
“I have never heard scoring in
a football game described quite that way. You
obviously see things a bit different than your
average football fan,” Rick replied. “But you still
haven’t answered my question. Who won?”
Ann didn’t seem to hear Rick.
She continued as if he hadn’t said a word. “But you
got to give the Texans some
credit. Despite their lousy
first quarter, they bounced back. They scored twice
as many points in their second quarter as the
Cowboys scored in the fourth quarter. It was
definitely nip and tuck.”
“You know, I think you are just
trying to irritate me.”
“I forgot to mention the
Cowboys got off to a very good
start. They scored as many points in their first
quarter as the Texans got in their first and third
quarters combined.”
“Great, Ann, this is just
fascinating. But who won the game?”
“Well, the Texans won!”
“Thank goodness. I hate to
lose to the Cowboys. So what was the final score?”
“Well, Rick, I’m not going to
tell you that. However, since you are such a smart
boy, I bet you can figure out the final score and
how many points each team scored in each quarter!”
Rick was pretty skeptical. But
after he thought about it, he realized Ann was right
(as usual).
How about the rest of you?
Can you come up with the final score plus the points
scored by each team in each quarter?
