The Quizbowl Resource Center

These are ready for discussion.

Overall: 85.1% of tossups answered correctly, 23.8% powered.

(2012: 84.1% correct, 25.7% powered

2011: 82.3% correct, 20.6% powered

2010: 78.5% correct, 15.7% powered

2009: 73.3% correct, 14.9% powered)

Least-converted tossups (min. 70 rooms played):

Tammuz
Measure for Measure
--20% conversion--
cycles
Let's Move!
--30% conversion--
Nawaz Sharif
Nicholas Nickleby
Dorothy Parker
Piltdown Man
salsa (dance)
Edna St. Vincent Millay
--40% conversion--

perlnerd666 wrote:I would love to see how many rooms [Tammuz] was converted in. My estimate would be around 10%?

1/9/43 in 75 rooms for 13.3% conversion.

bt_green_warbler wrote: cycles

Could you post this?

bt_green_warbler wrote:

perlnerd666 wrote:I would love to see how many rooms [Tammuz] was converted in. My estimate would be around 10%?

1/9/43 in 75 rooms for 13.3% conversion.

I think this is unjustifiably low, even if it is a worthwhile topic.

With some of the other low conversion rates (Nicholas Nickleby and Edna St. Vincent Millay come to mind), I wonder if a more give-away-ish giveaway could have helped? Could I see those two?

HSNCT round 10 wrote:The namesake property of these graph-theoretic entities states that if edge costs are distinct, the most expensive edge in one is ~not~ in a minimum spanning tree. Bipartite graphs have no odd-length examples of these sets, the absence of which defines (*) trees. The traveling salesman problem seeks to find a minimum-cost "Hamiltonian" example of--for 10 points--what sets of edges of a graph that form a closed path?

answer: _cycle_s (accept _circuit_s; accept _closed trail_s or _closed walk_s or _closed tour_s or _closed path_s before "closed"; prompt on "trail(s)" or "walk(s)" or "tour(s)"; do not prompt on "path(s)")

(This answer line has been expanded since the HSNCT to provide greater clarification on partial answers.)

HSNCT round 10 wrote:In this novel, during a search for Noggs and Miss La Creevy, one character confronts Hawk by jumping onto his carriage. While working for the schoolmaster Wackford Squeers, this novel's title character befriends (*) Smike, whom he later learns is the illegitimate son of his uncle. For 10 points--name this novel in which the title character moves to London seeking aid from his uncle Ralph, a work by Charles Dickens.

HSNCT round 3 wrote:In one play by this writer, Cothurnus hides the bodies of Corydon and Thyrsis. This author of ~Aria da Capo~ also declared "Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace" in "Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare," and wrote "he whose soul is flat--the sky / Will cave in (*) on him by and by" in another poem. For 10 points--name this American poet of "Renascence," whose work "First Fig" includes the line "My candle burns at both ends."

Can you post the text and conversion rates for "cartoons of the New Yorker" and John Forbes Nash, please?

HSNCT round 12 wrote:The phrase "back to the drawing board" originated with one of these pieces of art that have been edited by Lee Lorenz and Robert Mankoff. Charles Lavoie suggested that a certain blasphemous phrase could replace each of their captions, and the most famous of them asserts, "On the (*) Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." For 10 points--name these gag panels published by a cultural magazine based in the Big Apple.

answer: The _New Yorker_ _cartoon_s (accept answers including The _New Yorker_ and _cartoon_s; accept The _New Yorker_ until "art"; prompt on partial answers)

0/28/41 in 63 rooms.

HSNCT round 9 wrote:With Jurgen Moser, this man names an inverse function theorem for Frechet spaces developed during his work on embedding Riemannian manifolds in Euclidean space. He utilized three card players to exemplify a (*) non-cooperative situation in which no individual party could change strategy without a net loss, his namesake "equilibrium." For 10 points--what game theorist and schizophrenic was the subject of ~A Beautiful Mind~?

answer: John (Forbes) _Nash_ (Jr.) (accept _Nash equilibrium_)

5/70/4 in 80 rooms.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

HSNCT round 12 wrote:The phrase "back to the drawing board" originated with one of these pieces of art that have been edited by Lee Lorenz and Robert Mankoff. Charles Lavoie suggested that a certain blasphemous phrase could replace each of their captions, and the most famous of them asserts, "On the (*) Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." For 10 points--name these gag panels published by a cultural magazine based in the Big Apple.

answer: The _New Yorker_ _cartoon_s (accept answers including The _New Yorker_ and _cartoon_s; accept The _New Yorker_ until "art"; prompt on partial answers)

0/28/41 in 63 rooms.

Honestly, the Lavoie clue is useless. Not that I think it's inappropriate to be referenced in a high school question, and were the actual phrase used, I think there would be a few buzzes, but Charles Lavoie is an actual nobody, and without using the actual phrase (obviously since this is the high school section), that clue is completely opaque and unbuzzable.

I agree with Jon here. The actual obscene phrase is highly memorable, but since it can't be used, you're left with having to remember the dude's name. This may have been better for some sort of bonus or at a higher difficulty level.

Which tossups (and how many) had between 40 and 50 percent conversion?

RyuAqua wrote:Which tossups (and how many) had between 40 and 50 percent conversion?

Luigi Galvani, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Crossing the Bar, Jean-Auguste-Dominique-Ingres, Art Institute of Chicago, privilege

Could I see the Nawaz Sharif tossup and more detailed conversion stats for it?

HSNCT round 4 wrote:In 2013 this politician's party undermined a challenger's support from urban youth by giving away laptops. In 1999 Bill Clinton and King Fahd helped prevent his execution after a coup; instead, he was exiled to Saudi Arabia. In May 2013 his Muslim (*) League-N was helped by the fall of cricketer Imran Khan and resentment of the Bhutto-Zardari family. For 10 points--name this man set to return as prime minister of Pakistan.

0/24/25 in 80 rooms.

Just out of curiosity, what is the Charles Lavoie phrase?

postfan wrote:Just out of curiosity, what is the Charles Lavoie phrase?

This article can tell you!

I'm curious about exact conversion stats for the St. Vincent Millay tossup, personally.

Could I see the exact conversion rate for the Greene tossup? I think it was round 19, or whatever the fourth round of the playoffs was.

In the cases of Tammuz, Nawaz Sharif, and Cartoons of the New Yorker, obviously these appear to have considerably sub-optimal conversion rates and egregiously high neg totals, as well as astonishingly low power numbers (whoever powered that Tammuz tossup has got to be a total hoss at RMP). I can't imagine there were anything misleading about the clues for Tammuz and Sharif that could've induced any negs (you either know them or you don't), but like I previously mentioned regarding the tossup on the New Yorker cartoons, it seemed like it was very easy to neg it with "meme" or something else (now that I read the tossup, towards the end I can imagine someone would neg with "comic", get prompted and unsuccessfully try "web comic"). I know in my room it got negged with meme at the "internet" clue, and as cool as an answerline as it was (plus the fact I converted it at the end), several other people I talked to Sunday told me they, or their opponent, negged it with "meme" as well. At a 65% neg rate, 44% conversion and 0% power rate, I'd argue this may not have been a great tossup, at least for HSNCT.

Are there any other tossups that saw few to no powers, less-than-desirable conversion and eyebrow-raising high neg totals?

What were the highest converted tossups (and tossups with highest number of powers)?

Mr. Scogan wrote:In the cases of Tammuz, Nawaz Sharif, and Cartoons of the New Yorker, obviously these appear to have considerably sub-optimal conversion rates and egregiously high neg totals, as well as astonishingly low power numbers (whoever powered that Tammuz tossup has got to be a total hoss at RMP). I can't imagine there were anything misleading about the clues for Tammuz and Sharif that could've induced any negs (you either know them or you don't), but like I previously mentioned regarding the tossup on the New Yorker cartoons, it seemed like it was very easy to neg it with "meme" or something else (now that I read the tossup, towards the end I can imagine someone would neg with "comic", get prompted and unsuccessfully try "web comic"). I know in my room it got negged with meme at the "internet" clue, and as cool as an answerline as it was (plus the fact I converted it at the end), several other people I talked to Sunday told me they, or their opponent, negged it with "meme" as well. At a 65% neg rate, 44% conversion and 0% power rate, I'd argue this may not have been a great tossup, at least for HSNCT.

Are there any other tossups that saw few to no powers, less-than-desirable conversion and eyebrow-raising high neg totals?

What were the highest converted tossups (and tossups with highest number of powers)?

While the New Yorker tossup had its issues, I don't really feel a lot of sympathy for people who negged with "meme" or something like that. You're not entitled to forget the first half of the tossup and reflex buzz on one clue that seems like it fits, and the phrase "Back to the drawing board" predates the birth of everyone competing at this tournament and the internet, so... that's a clearly wrong answer.

jonpin wrote:

Mr. Scogan wrote:In the cases of Tammuz, Nawaz Sharif, and Cartoons of the New Yorker, obviously these appear to have considerably sub-optimal conversion rates and egregiously high neg totals, as well as astonishingly low power numbers (whoever powered that Tammuz tossup has got to be a total hoss at RMP). I can't imagine there were anything misleading about the clues for Tammuz and Sharif that could've induced any negs (you either know them or you don't), but like I previously mentioned regarding the tossup on the New Yorker cartoons, it seemed like it was very easy to neg it with "meme" or something else (now that I read the tossup, towards the end I can imagine someone would neg with "comic", get prompted and unsuccessfully try "web comic"). I know in my room it got negged with meme at the "internet" clue, and as cool as an answerline as it was (plus the fact I converted it at the end), several other people I talked to Sunday told me they, or their opponent, negged it with "meme" as well. At a 65% neg rate, 44% conversion and 0% power rate, I'd argue this may not have been a great tossup, at least for HSNCT.

Are there any other tossups that saw few to no powers, less-than-desirable conversion and eyebrow-raising high neg totals?

What were the highest converted tossups (and tossups with highest number of powers)?

While the New Yorker tossup had its issues, I don't really feel a lot of sympathy for people who negged with "meme" or something like that. You're not entitled to forget the first half of the tossup and reflex buzz on one clue that seems like it fits, and the phrase "Back to the drawing board" predates the birth of everyone competing at this tournament and the internet, so... that's a clearly wrong answer.

You're right, attention should be paid. Point conceded.

Does anyone have any ideas about what people negged with on the Sharif tossup? (I apologize if I accidentally derail this thread, but current events is the closest thing I have to a specialty, so I'm interested.)

intheshadowofgreatness wrote:Does anyone have any ideas about what people negged with on the Sharif tossup? (I apologize if I accidentally derail this thread, but current events is the closest thing I have to a specialty, so I'm interested.)

I buzzed fairly early with Musharraf.

Banana Stand wrote:

intheshadowofgreatness wrote:Does anyone have any ideas about what people negged with on the Sharif tossup? (I apologize if I accidentally derail this thread, but current events is the closest thing I have to a specialty, so I'm interested.)

I buzzed fairly early with Musharraf.

Yeah, it was very tempting.

Considering my abysmal performance at the current event questions from this year's HSNCT, I feel really happy that I at least got the question on Sharif.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

perlnerd666 wrote:I would love to see how many rooms [Tammuz] was converted in. My estimate would be around 10%?

1/9/43 in 75 rooms for 13.3% conversion.

To the high school kid who powered Tammuz: keep up the good work, you're a star!

EDIT: ...Tammuz.

Millay: 7/24/2 in 78 rooms.

George Green (of Green's theorem fame, from round 20): 0/14/5 in 20 rooms.

Could you post conversion breakdowns by category? Hopefully that would lead to more discussion than "hey, could you post (choose one or any: the full text/stats/the favorite hairstyle of the editor of the question) on {subject}?"

Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:"hey, could you post the favorite hairstyle of the editor of the question) on {subject}?"

NAQT does not release this information!

Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:Could you post conversion breakdowns by category?

Category (%correct, %power)

general knowledge (98.4, 8.7)
theology (97.6, 25.7)
miscellaneous (94.6, 22.5)
geography (91.4, 16.7)
history (87.7, 20.6)
sports (85.7, 33.0)
science (85.7, 23.6)
current events (84.3, 17.3)
philosophy (83.4, 12.9)
literature (81.3, 30.9)
popular culture (81.2, 37.9)
fine arts (79.7, 28.5)
social science (78.1, 10.7)

Is the final number in figures such as '0/14/2' or '75/5/5' stand for number of rooms in which this tossup was negged or rooms in which it was eventually converted (given that a lot of conversion will be picked up off of negs)? I just want to make sure people aren't misinterpreting if there really are tossups that got negged in over half the rooms that were played.

Those are 15/10/-5. So, yes, there were some tossups with unacceptably high minus-five rates.

Tossups with 30 or more minus-fives:

rotation 53
salsa (dance) 48
South Island 46
Ambrose Burnside 45
Mont Blanc 44
sediment 44
Tammuz 43
Mojave Desert 43
Upanishads 42
accelerometer 42
John Cabot 41
New Yorker cartoons 41
United Arab Emirates 37
Jan Oort 37
isothermal process 36
Christian Huygens 35
inelastic collision 35
Bhutan 35
Milan 34
angular momentum 34
carbon dioxide 34
Let's Move! 33
Piltdown Man 32
Anubis 32
Edouard Manet 32
electron orbitals 31
Luigi Galvani 30
Anschluss 30

Can I see the stats for the tossup on amniocentesis?

1/6/8 in 11 rooms.

From what I heard from other people, the Hermes clue in the Anubis tossup led to a lot of negs with Thoth- could I see that tossup, and the conversion stats?

Can someone post the tossups on "privilege" and "Let's Move!"?

HSNCT round 12 wrote:This god is the father of a purification goddess named Kebechet, whom he fathered on his wife Anput. He was conflated with Hermes and worshiped at Cynopolis during the Ptolemaic period. After death, people were brought before this god, who (*) weighed hearts against the feather of Ma'at on a set of scales. For 10 points--name this Egyptian god of mummification who had a black jackal's head.

4/48/32 in 56 rooms.

HSNCT round 9 wrote:In ~Branzburg v. Hayes~, the Supreme Court concluded that one of these was not created for journalists by the First Amendment. There is usually a "crime-fraud" exception to a better-known one of these; that one may be waived if a communication is made in the (*) presence of a third party. For 10 points--give this concept from evidence that keeps certain communications confidential, such as those between an attorney and client.

answer: _privilege_ (accept _journalist's privilege_ or _reporter's privilege_ or _attorney-client privilege_)

HSNCT round 5 wrote:This campaign's "Cities, Towns, & Counties" program began in July 2012, and its five goals include "Start Early, Start Smart." Sam Kass heads its program to encourage volunteerism by culinary professionals, and Beyonce recorded the 2011 song (*) "Move Your Body" to support it. Solving a health issue faced by 1 in 3 American children is the goal of--for 10 points--what anti-obesity initiative begun by Michelle Obama?

answer: _Let's Move_! (do not accept "Task Force on Childhood Obesity")

Can I see the stats on the tossups for the Arabian Sea and the United Arab Emirates?

Corry wrote:Can I see the stats on the tossups for the Arabian Sea and the United Arab Emirates?

UAE was read in 80 rooms. It was powered 5 times. 64 teams got 10 points on it. 37 teams negged. That's 86.3% total conversion, a 7.2% power rate, and a 46.3% neg rate.

Arabian Sea was read in 79 rooms. It was powered 9 times. 65 teams got 10 points on it. 27 teams negged. That's 93.7% total conversion, a 12.2% power rate, and a 34.2% neg rate.

The HSNCT wrote:This country's Liwa [lee-WAA] Oasis was the homeland of the Bani Yas [baa-nee YAAS] tribe, which produced the current Al-Nahyan [en nah-YAAN] dynasty. Fujairah [foo-JYE-rah], on the Musandam Peninsula, is separated from the rest of this country by the Hajar Mountains. Before 1971, its component members were dubbed the (*) Trucial States. Ras Al-Khaimah [ras el KHAY-mah], Ajman, and Sharjah are part of--for 10 points--what country bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia whose capital is Abu Dhabi?

answer: _United Arab Emirates_ or _UAE_ (or Al _Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah_)

At the southwestern edge of this {sea} is the submarine Carlsberg Ridge. Asia's first {Special Economic Zone} was established at Kandla on this sea's Gulf of Kutch. Cape Guardafui [gwahr-duh-fwee] juts into this sea whose islands include Masirah and (*) Socotra. The Indus River flows into--for 10 points--what sea east of the {Horn of Africa} whose {ports} include Karachi and Mumbai and which is bounded by a namesake Middle Eastern {peninsula}?

answer: _Arabian_ Sea

What was the overall neg rate for the tournament?

fett0001 wrote:What was the overall neg rate for the tournament?

Year, Power Rate, Neg Rate

2013, 23.8%, 19.0%
2012, 25.7%, 17.4%
2011, 20.5%, 17.1%
2010, 15.7%, 17.3%

Can i see the toss-up on acids (maybe it was lewis acids) and the conversion rate?

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.

Examples of these substances that have high-energy LUMOs and low polarizability were classified by Ralph Pearson as being "hard." These substances include boron trifluoride, aluminum trichloride, and other compounds that have an empty ~p~ orbital and can thus accept a nonbonding pair of (*) valence electrons, according to the Lewis theory. For 10 points--name these compounds that include "acetic" and "hydrochloric" variants.

answer: _acid_s or _acidic_ substances (accept _Lewis acid_s; accept _hard acid_ until "boron")

17/62/13 in 80 rooms.

The HSNCT wrote:This country's Liwa [lee-WAA] Oasis was the homeland of the Bani Yas [baa-nee YAAS] tribe, which produced the current Al-Nahyan [en nah-YAAN] dynasty. Fujairah [foo-JYE-rah], on the Musandam Peninsula, is separated from the rest of this country by the Hajar Mountains. Before 1971, its component members were dubbed the (*) Trucial States. Ras Al-Khaimah [ras el KHAY-mah], Ajman, and Sharjah are part of--for 10 points--what country bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia whose capital is Abu Dhabi?

answer: _United Arab Emirates_ or _UAE_ (or Al _Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah_)

Musandam would help explain the high neg rate, that's much more associated with Oman.

Do you keep conversion stats for particular categories of questions? Because I'm interested in seeing how the conversion rates for geography compare to other subjects.

Corry wrote:Do you keep conversion stats for particular categories of questions? Because I'm interested in seeing how the conversion rates for geography compare to other subjects.

This was posted up-thread. I assume this is what you were asking for.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:Could you post conversion breakdowns by category?

Category (%correct, %power)

general knowledge (98.4, 8.7)
theology (97.6, 25.7)
miscellaneous (94.6, 22.5)
geography (91.4, 16.7)
history (87.7, 20.6)
sports (85.7, 33.0)
science (85.7, 23.6)
current events (84.3, 17.3)
philosophy (83.4, 12.9)
literature (81.3, 30.9)
popular culture (81.2, 37.9)
fine arts (79.7, 28.5)
social science (78.1, 10.7)

Weighted Companion Cube wrote:

Corry wrote:Do you keep conversion stats for particular categories of questions? Because I'm interested in seeing how the conversion rates for geography compare to other subjects.

This was posted up-thread. I assume this is what you were asking for.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

Grams's Go-Go Boots wrote:Could you post conversion breakdowns by category?

Category (%correct, %power)

general knowledge (98.4, 8.7)
theology (97.6, 25.7)
miscellaneous (94.6, 22.5)
geography (91.4, 16.7)
history (87.7, 20.6)
sports (85.7, 33.0)
science (85.7, 23.6)
current events (84.3, 17.3)
philosophy (83.4, 12.9)
literature (81.3, 30.9)
popular culture (81.2, 37.9)
fine arts (79.7, 28.5)
social science (78.1, 10.7)

Thanks, that was what I was looking for. I don't know how I missed it. :P