501 Maths tricks for the beginner

[redhedkev]

Any of you seasoned Nutters care to maybe share some pearls of wisdom regarding Maths skills, tricks, slight of hand for calculating outs, etc. in your X01 games?

[Getagrip]

1 + 1 is 2 (I think Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images. )

[Jugger]

As much as I absolutely hate to say this...

Score as much as possible... score for friends... random people... at home without electronic help


I LOATHE chalking... but it's the only way to get better at counting

[B2B180]

say some has score 47.

i take 50 off then add 3

[ReggaeDarts]

For me one of the fundamental particulars I've learnt in regards to Counting my 01 is Formulas.

A lot of it isn't about subtracting and adding and times table... it does come into play, of course... but there are formulas. You get to a point where you just know that a 156 Check-out is T20 T20 D18; you don't stand there subtracting and doing Math... you just know what it is. Also applies if you miss the First Dart at the T20 and hit a single to leave you on 136.. with 2 Darts left you Know what formula you need to leave you a decent 2 Dart finish... with Darts in hand Keep throwing for T20, cos if you hit Two T20 it will leave you 16, a prime Double. This is just one example of many.

One of the first things you'll want to get sufficient at is knowing what your Trebles are with out having to stand there and do a 3 times table Math work out to identify what the T12 is worth or the T17 is worth. You just know that T12 is 36, T17 is 51, T18 is 54 ect. This expands to knowing that Two T17 is 102, Two T18 is 108 ect....

What I did was cut up some Square bits of paper, roughly 4" x 4" Square and Write down the Treble totals from T10 up to T20 and Stick 'em on the wall next to my Dart Board, or at least some where visibly accessible while playing Darts. Knowing what your Trebles are in a split second with out having to do the Maths is a Big step forward to becoming a better counter and developing your Skill with Check-out and setting up formulas.

[redhedkev]

1 + 1 is 2 (I think Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images. )

Ah yes, the ever popular Madhouse, double 1.

[Leaky]

As much as I absolutely hate to say this...

Score as much as possible... score for friends... random people... at home with electronic help


I LOATHE chalking... but it's the only way to get better at counting

Now I have it writing......NICE!!!!

[guest2]

Just practice and you will be familiar with the math and numbers as you go along.

[DartSimpson]

I'm sorry but I can't give you any personal advice, I've always been good with numbers and I'm kind of obsessed with them sometimes. When I first started watching darts I always tried to know what players had left before the scoreboard had been updated. So there's like 2 seconds when the scoreboard is "counting down" and I used to try to beat it and most of the time I did so I got bored with it but if there's a boring/slow game on I sometimes find myself doing it again.

So, if I was having difficulty counting I would definitely watch some games and do the counting and see if it's right. Good idea maybe to also do it while watching some games from the 1st rounds of the World Championships in PDC and BDO so you're not subtracting 100's, 140's, 96's and so on all of the time.
And why not count some amateur darts...

[gumbo2176]

The more I scored, the better I got at it. Now that I'm not playing in league this season, I've gone to bars and chalked matches for teams for the hell of it------and it's greatly appreciated since they can concentrate on just playing instead of waiting for someone that is numerically challenged to subtract 57 from 301 and come up with the right score.

And God forbid someone throws at the 19's for score instead of the 20's. That blank stare comes over the scorekeepers face like they have seen a ghost or something.

[mcockrell]

definitely score as much as you can using chalk. when I first started I cheated and used an app. then I got in league and was really embarrassed by my lack of fundamental math skills.

my only advice would be to make sure you can instantly do the "simple" numbers in your head. what I mean by simple numbers would be anything that subtracts to less than 10. like 13-8. instantly know that's a 5. I know it seems stupid that grown people are having to practice that but if you don't use it every day then it can definitely slip on you. once you have these numbers down then its just a matter of moving from column to column doing the same thing. the more you practice the better you will become.

I, too, use the "estimation" method in a lot of my playing while tallying up scores or calculating outs. (47 is 50 minus 3 like someone mentioned earlier). I do a lot of drills to help me with these once you get under 100 or so. I'm not really good enough right now to need to memorize too many outs past 100. although I have memorized quite a few simply because I've had those outs several times. one other thing that I do that I didn't realize I did until my wife and started playing darts is that I look at the numbers that are hit and I try to find sums that add up to a multiple of 10 (like 18,12,19 I will add the 18 and 12 to get 30, then its easy to add the 19 and get 49). doing it like this helps my simple brain wrap itself around the extremely hard concept of adding things together. and lastly if I hit two randoms and a 20 then I will add the 20 last just because its easier for me. so if I hit T18,T5,20 its easier for me to add 54 and 15 and just add 20 to it than to add 54 to 35 or 74 to 15 even though its the same thing. smaller numbers mean I don't freak out so much when im forced to add them. hahah Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

I can add up most of the things that I hit myself simply because of the frequency of which I hit certain things. if I miss 20 then its likely I will hit 5,T5,1, or T1. and if I miss completely then you can add 18,T18,12,T12 to that list. so lots of times i dont have to add anything i just simply look at the board. my wife usually aims at 19 and she doesn't always get in the ballpark of where she is aiming so adding hers up has helped me because I know that X is this and Y is that and both of them are Z. Shes liable to hit a T16,T19,D17 on a turn so knowing what those 3 are individually helps me add them together.

if you want a lot of practice with adding up irregular numbers then get yourself a dry erase scorer and play yourself. player 1 throws at 19s and player 2 throws at 17 or 18. that should help you with adding the groups of numbers. just remember that even + even = even, odd + odd = even, and any odd + any even = odd.

Also, I know this has turned into a long post but if you make a habit of playing a lot with friends and doing manual scorekeeping you will definitely see how differently we all make sense of numbers in our heads. just about everyone has their own way of adding and subtracting things and its quite interesting sometimes to see how others do it.

MC

[Regulatori]

Lot of good help here.

This is a really helpful out chart with reasons why to do certain things.
https://ricksmith.ca/Darts/dartsouts.htm

The biggest thing that will help you out is learning the 2 dart combinations. Soon as you learn those, you'll know what number to throw your first dart out (when you have 3 darts to throw) to set yourself up for that 2 dart combo.

[DutchDarts]

Just keep practicing at darts numbers and write the scores manually.
Here in The Netherlands i have heard of primary schools that use the darts as an educational tool for math,wich is a great thing.

I suck at numbers but have no problems with keeping dartscores
I find that when i'am using prodarter or some other software, i have more miscounts.
When i manually keep the score i almost never have a miscount.
It's like the dart software makes the math in my head go slower/lazier.

I have seen loads of people using calculators and start whining and complaining (like they have to use advanced mathematics Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.) when they have to write at tourney's and pubgames.
its not the end of the world if your writing is off , the players will just tell you when the score is wrong they don't kick your ass for it Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[Cankles of Fury]

Pretty good read Reg, was looking over it and had some good stuff there, but stopped reading when i found he suggested going single 11 with 13 left :p

[redhedkev]

Lot of good help here.

This is a really helpful out chart with reasons why to do certain things.
https://ricksmith.ca/Darts/dartsouts.htm

The biggest thing that will help you out is learning the 2 dart combinations. Soon as you learn those, you'll know what number to throw your first dart out (when you have 3 darts to throw) to set yourself up for that 2 dart combo.

That's a great site, thanks!