A couple of months ago I wrote foodlewordle.io – getting to 97% in which I calculated how many more times I needed to play foodle wordle to get to 97%. Soon after I’d written the post I wondered whether or not foodle wordle would round up 96.5% to 97%. In which case I’d get there a lot earlier. Well, I got to 97% on Friday 16th August 2024.
Here’s the calculation to show that 96.5% has been rounded to 97%.
Played = 600
Win = 189 + 31 + 119 + 132 + 76 + 32 = 579
Win % = ( 579 / 600 ) * 100 = 96.5
which rounds up to 97%So now I need to know how many more games to get to 98%… which will happen when I get to 97.5%.
Formula for 98% is
( win + n ) / ( played + n ) = 975 / 1000
( win + n ) * 1000 = 975 * ( played + n )
( 579 + n ) * 1000 = 975 * ( 600 + n )
579000 + 1000n = 585000 + 975n
1000n - 975n = 585000 - 579000
25n = 6000
n = 240
check
579 + 240 = 819
600 + 240 = 840
819 / 840 = 0.975
ie 98% 240 days from 16th August is April 13th 2025. That’s assuming I get foodlewordle right every day.
This fact suggests we may need to paraphrase the old IBM project manager’s adage
“The earlier you slip the longer you have to catch up.”
to
“The earlier you slip the longer you need to catch up.”.