Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 24, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Symbols) for Friday, March 24, 2023 (Season 39, Game 140):
In math, it’s a rotated V; in society, it’s a feeling of some marginalized or underrepresented people
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Michael Murphy, a test engineer from Gilroy, California
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Tamara Ghattas, an editor from Chicago, Illinois
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Alec Chao, a management & program analyst from Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1-day total: $15,505)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
On yesterday’s Jeopardy!, Alec Chao defeated 3-day champion Melissa Klapper. While he picked up 27 correct responses (including Final) yesterday, he also had 6 incorrect responses; his longevity on the show may rely on him getting fewer incorrect responses going forward! Today’s challengers are California engineer Michael Murphy and Chicago editor Tamara Ghattas.
Like yesterday, those who normally watch the show on CBS affiliates in the early evening may have their coverage pre-empted by March Madness. Thankfully for Jeopardy! fans, the tournament is approaching its conclusion.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is “less than”?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Rotating a V 90 degrees clockwise gives you the < sign, meaning “less than” in mathematics. It should not be news that marginalized and underrepresented people feel less than others—what deeply bothers me is the fact that so many people feel that this status is an acceptable situation. (Spoiler alert: It’s not.)
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: U.S. Metropolitan Partners; Cats: The Non-Musical; Finnish Him!; What’ll It “B”?; Change A Letter; The WWE)
In a game where all three players struggled on the wordplay categories, Michael got into the lead at the break, thanks to a $4,000 Daily Double! Tamara was really struggling and barely got herself out of the red by the end of the round.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Alec 7 correct 1 incorrect
Michael 6 correct 0 incorrect
Tamara 1 correct 2 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Michael 10 correct 1 incorrect
Alec 13 correct 1 incorrect
Tamara 4 correct 4 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Fog Of War; Before & Actors; At Rest In Westminster Abbey; U.S. Colleges; Rejected Authors; 6-Letter Rhymers)
Tamara found both Daily Doubles—and her game—in this round, as she catapulted into the lead! In a rare occurrence these days, we saw 3 unplayed clues at the end of the round—unsurprising considering the struggles on “Change A Letter” early and “Before & Actors” late. Scores going into Final were Tamara at $13,800, Alec at $7,800, and Michael at $7,200.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Tamara 14 correct 6 incorrect
Alec 19 correct 3 incorrect
Michael 11 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 19 (3 today).
While Alec gave a response that I thought the judges might accept (but ultimately did not), Tamara was correct in Final today! She’ll return Monday to defend her title!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, March 24, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Tamara $13,800
Alec $7,800
Michael $7,200
Tonight’s results:
Michael $7,200 – $6,601 = $599 (What is subdivision?)
Alec $7,800 – $4,801 = $2,999 (What is inequality?)
Tamara $13,800 + $1,801 = $15,601 (What is less than?) (1-day total: $15,601)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Michael $8,800
Alec $7,000
Tamara $800
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) CHANGE A LETTER $800 (clue #27)
Michael 4800 +4000 (Alec 6600 Tamara -200)
2) THE FOG OF WAR $1200 (clue #12)
Tamara 2400 +2400 (Alec 7000 Michael 8400)
3) AT REST IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY $1600 (clue #25, $6400 left on board)
Tamara 8800 +3000 (Alec 7000 Michael 7200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 217
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Alec 1 3 5 1 3 4 3 1 1 4 4 3 3 5
Tamara 4 5 5
Michael 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 4 2 4*
DJ! Round:
Alec 1 1 2 1† 1 1 4†
Tamara 3 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 3* 1 2† 3 4 5 3 5† 4*
Michael 2
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Tamara 3.75
Alec 2.48
Michael 2.27
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: BEFORE & ACTORS $800 $2000 AT REST IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY $800
Total Left On Board: $3,600
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 19 (0.14 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Tamara $11,200 Coryat, 14 correct, 6 incorrect, 31.48% in first on buzzer (17/54), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Alec $7,800 Coryat, 19 correct, 3 incorrect, 37.04% in first on buzzer (20/54), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Michael $4,000 Coryat, 11 correct, 3 incorrect, 18.52% in first on buzzer (10/54), 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $23,000
Lach Trash: $15,600 (on 13 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,800
Alec Chao, career statistics:
46 correct, 10 incorrect
1/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
45.95% in first on buzzer (51/111)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,500
Tamara Ghattas, career statistics:
15 correct, 6 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
31.48% in first on buzzer (17/54)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,200
Michael Murphy, career statistics:
11 correct, 4 incorrect
1/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
18.52% in first on buzzer (10/54)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,000
Tamara Ghattas, to win:
2 games: 45.848%
3: 21.020%
4: 9.637%
5: 4.418%
6: 2.026%
Avg. streak: 1.847 games.
Today’s interviews:
Michael snuck away to bungee jump off a railroad bridge at 5 AM.
Tamara has a hypothetical question to get to know people.
Alec is not a great bowler.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Obviously, the ruling on Final Jeopardy! made no difference as to the ultimate outcome. However: it’s clear the judges felt “inequality” wasn’t specific enough to fit all parts of the clue. I also fully expect there to be an uproar and a dozen tabloid pieces before Inside Jeopardy! airs on Monday. I also expect that none of the angry viewers will actually be quelled by anything that is said about this clue on Inside Jeopardy!, as the show definitely lost a lot of credibility over the Hebrews debacle in the Tournament of Champions. Clue writing has definitely been a lot sloppier recently, and this is definitely a clue that should have been left at the roundtable.
- Any feedback that should be directed at the show will be deleted from the comments section today. If you wish to leave feedback for the show, the show has a Contact Us page.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Tamara $13,800 Alec $7,800 Michael $7,200)
Alec: Standard cover bet over Michael is $6,601. (Actual bet: $4,801)
Tamara: Standard cover bet over Alec is $1,801. (Actual bet: $1,801)
Michael: Bet between $4,801 and $5,999 (thereby fitting in between Tamara’s score if she misses and Alec’s score if he covers you). (Actual bet: $6,601)
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If I can get this, anyone can. Have to believe this will be a triple get.
I concur. First part of the clue left two options – and the second part, made it quite (what I thought) obvious.
“Inequality” is clearly wrong. I cannot remember an easier question. One small issue I have is with their choice of font. They used a serif font and to me, this was a mistake.
I also cannot remember a game that I “enjoyed” more. It’s a breath of fresh air when someone goes from like -1200 and feels rather “less than” as the two lads were getting everything in the J! round. I feel Tamara’s great attitude kept her in the game. I hope she wins at least one more, and perhaps she has learned to quit guessing.
I had “What is inequality?” but maybe I over-thought this one, being a math teacher?!? I just thought the word inequality represented oppressed and underrepresented people, and also covers rotating a V to the right as well as to the left.
I had the same thought.
Generally, I’d write not equal as <> so that would require multiple V’s
But maybe that’s cause I’m a software guy.
I know what you mean as I was a software engineer before I became a teacher, but the term “inequality” in math refers to the broad spectrum of signs that aren’t the equals sign.
I got this FJ correct right away. It has been a very long time since I was a math major in college (and I know some aspects of math have even changed since then) but I had never heard of there being a math symbol for “inequality”, just for “unequal”, and I had never heard of “<>” as a symbol for “unequal”, just the symbol that I cannot produce here, an “=” sign with a “/” through it. [I wonder if “<>” was introduced with the advent of keyboards instead of typewriters, which can be backed up to overstrike?]
<> is used in many database applications. It essentially means less than OR greater than.
The clue said “math”, so would a symbol used in technology necessarily be “math”? Just wondering since I feel the clue strongly implied it was about just a single rotated V.
I’m not willing to toss out “inequality” just yet. That was my guess, after considering “less than” and just not liking the sound of it. I hope it gets tested by one of the players.
To me, “less than” is the best response to the clue, as the clue asks for a single symbol and “inequality” refers to any of many, not all of which are made by rotating a V.
However, I agree with those who think this was not a great clue.
Your judgment was as incisive as always! IMO, it should have been accepted, but the official ruling* is what I base my success or failure upon :/
* If Alec had chosen a different response, I would still have ruled myself incorrect just based on your above comment.
Current FJ Streak: 1L
I wonder if “inequality” will come up as a possible response, since the rotation isn’t specified in Final. It’s a different symbol, but I know there could be some debate on this one.
I got it pretty fast, mostly because of the mathematical aspect. I wonder how this category will play out – I’d assume both the symbol and the name are acceptable. And your comments about what marginalized people are feeling are, as is often the case, spot-on.
I don’t think < would be accepted. I’ve never seen it written that marginalized people feel <
I agree.
What an odd final jeopardy clue. “Less than” was my guess, but again…..odd
I found FJ easy. “Less than” matches the clue more precisely than “inequality. “
Inequality was a response and was negged.
Wow, I’m a bit surprised Tamara was the only one who got FJ. And not accepting “inequality” as a correct response didn’t really change anything since he would have still lost and still gotten 2nd.
Ugh
Got so fixated on the logical AND operator(^). Completely blanked out
curious where ^ is the logical AND operator. I’m more used to && (or a single & for a bitwise AND)
Boolean algebra or propositional logic. I’m more used to seeing it as the symbol for exponentiation.
As it turns out, not a triple get.
Yeah, I’d also thought it would be a triple get.
I used less than and greater than many times taking math courses and studying java during college so this one was something I knew. Surprised that Tamara got final. Taking math in high school helped me here as well.
Got it. Maybe benefited from the interplay of math and language, which might have worked for Tamara, too. (And here is where any comparison with a Jeopardy champ concludes for me.)
I figured the less than symbol. What is a subdivision symbol?
The only thing that occurs to me is if maybe Michael was thinking of the left leg of the ‘V’ rotating down to form a slash (‘/’) which is a form of division indication?
The clue could’ve been salvaged — or at least somewhat improved — by a change of wording to “a way that some marginalized or underrepresented people are made to feel”, mirroring Ken’s language in his explanation. That way “unequal” rather than “inequality” would be the correct part of speech to fit the second clause, and the latter could be ruled out. This also makes the second clause fit the correct response better, as describing “less than” as a feeling seems rather awkward.
What a fun game! I enjoyed Tamara’s personality and the competitive play. I wonder how often a player who was in the red as much as Tamara has come back to win. (And she was even within reach of making it a runaway, if they’d had more time!)
I just echoed this above. My favourite game in ages! Go Tamara!
From a mathematical standpoint, “inequality” includes both “greater than” and “less than,” and therefore is too broad a term to match the clue.
The symbols for “greater than” and “less than” both rotated Vs. The issue is symbols for inequalities like “greater than or equal to”, “less than or equal to” and “not equal to”, none of which are rotated Vs.
This now has me wondering whether “strict inequality” would’ve been accepted.
A marginalized person would only feel “less than,” not “greater than.” Therefore, “less than” is a better match for the clue than “inequality” (whether or not strict).
Respectfully disagree. The clue clearly delineates that two different senses of the term are being used in the two different parts, and “inequality” in the societal sense fits the second part of the clue perfectly. I.e., “inequality is a feeling of marginalized people”.
“Inequality” is commonly defined as the condition of being unequal. I agree that the marginalized might feel both “inequality” and “less than.” Yet those who consider themselves superior to others also might feel “inequality,” but only from a “greater than” perspective. Switching gears to the math side, the specific meaning of a rotated V would be “less than” or “greater than.” It also would be a symbol of inequality, but only in a more general sense. For these reasons I conclude that, although “inequality” is not completely incorrect, “less than” is a more specific and precise response to the clue. But we can disagree.
What a curious game. The inclusion of more than one wordplay category – I consider Before & After actors to be one – seemed to rattle all three players. With everyone thrown off their stride, the game never found a real rhythm. At least it was fun and Tamara is a very worthy champ.
And Final was poorly worded. Also, I didn’t get it. But I am not bitter.
I liked Tamara’s positive energy and how she didn’t let herself get flustered after missing several clues early. I look forward to seeing how she does Monday.
When I read the clue, somehow I visualized “<” which from my math classes from years ago menat “less than,” and, since the clue also said how some people feel society treats them (as being worth less than others,) that fit as well.
I never heard of “<>” representing not equal, in my math classes, again from years ago, an equals sign with a slash through it, was the symbol for that term. But to me, wether, or, not, the term “not equal” doesn’t fit the category, since it specifically talks about a single character in the first part of the clue.