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Is Math A Sport?

Posted by timothy on from the that's-an-album dept.

theodp writes "The close of the International Mathematical Olympiad prompts Slate to question if math is a sport, wondering if mathletes might someday compete in the Olympics alongside track stars and basketball players."

5 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No. by samael · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Dammit, beaten to it.

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  2. Math is not a sport... by John+Seminal · · Score: 1, Redundant
    I don't think something is a sport unless there is some physical activity involved. Unless you are activly doing something with your body, and it is against someone else, then it is not a sport.

    That is why I would classify something like ping pong as a sport. You have an opponent and you have to use your body to win. You move your legs to get you in place to make a shot, and you use your hands to add touch to the shot.

    Math is not a sport. And you can't really have an oponent the way you can in real sports. How is the opponent going to stop you? In football cornerbacks try and stop wide recievers. In basketball people are gaurded. In baseball the pitcher trys to make you miss the pitch. What can your opponent do do in math? Nothing. Chess might be more arguable because the opponent can make moves to open up traps for you.

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    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

  3. A: by Down8 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    No.

    -bZj

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  4. What is a sport then? by shobadobs · · Score: 0, Redundant

    People seem to have a lot of trouble with giving exact definitions for things like sports. Here is a good definition, which I think works:

    A sport is what I point to and say " that's a sport."

  5. Re:Math Isn't A Sport: A Proof By Contradiction by khallow · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Step 1: Assume Math is a sport.

    This is totally incorrect. Some math is pendantic droning about minutia and berating others through rhetorical excess. Hence, it's not particularly sporting (more like shooting fish in a compact solid). If you were even a remotely competent mathematician, then you would understand this obvious fact.