Act 1
The retouched headline is designed to have students ask “How many 3-pointers will Stephen Curry make this season?” There are related questions: “At what pace (rate) is Curry making 3-pointers? What makes this pace historically ridiculous? What’s the difference between a historically ridiculous pace and a ridiculously historic pace?”
Here’s the thing about historic paces: historically, they happen weekly.
Act 2
I retouched the first sentence in the article to open things up a bit. Pre-edit: “We’re nearly through 20 percent of the 2015-16 season…” Only the number of 3-pointers made to date (74) is needed. We don’t need to know the number of games played to date (15) or the number of games played in an NBA season (82). That’s the point of percent: fanatical comparison to 100. (I wonder if students would ask for this superfluous information anyway.) Post-edit, this information might, in fact, be useful to know. And help draw out multiple strategies. Perhaps students will ask for a fraction, rather than a percent, to fill in the blank. Games played and 3-pointers made to date can be determined from the following graph:
I cropped the infographic because it resolves an extension (see it from the waist down below). And because it’s too damn long.
Act 3
The article suggests two possible extensions: “How many 3-pointers does Steph Curry need per game remaining to reach 300? How many games will this take?”
April 7, 2016: Steph Curry Is On Pace To Hit 102 Home Runs
May 11, 2016: 3-Point Tracker — 2015-16 Season
May 11, 2016: Misleading y-axis (h/t Geoff Krall)
Chris Hunter 