Final Jeopardy: Medieval Europeans (3-5-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/5/2025) in the category “Medieval Europeans” was:
This mathematician of Pisa studied in Algeria & later wrote a book introducing Arabic numerals to a larger audience
The finalists in the first final game of the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament are: Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, NY; Roger Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, VA; and Juveria Zaheer, a psychiatrist from Whitby, Ontario.
Round 1 Categories: All the Non-Human Book Characters – Notable Names – Feeling Punchy – Spitting Fire – Recent Movies – Add a Letter
Juveria found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Feeling Punchy” under the $600 clue on the 20th pick of the round. She was tied for second place with Matt at $3,400, $600 less than Roger’s lead. Juveria bet it all and went with roundhouse. That was WRONG.
A powerful punch, it’s likely named for the agricultural practice of cutting dried grass show
Roger finished in the lead with $5,200. Matt was second with $14,600 and Juveria was last with negative $600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: European Geography – Document Dudes – The Desired Opera Category – Laying Down the Law – Reality TV – Ends in “M”
Matt found the first Daily Double in “European Geography” under the $1,600 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in second place with $6,600, $200 less than Roger’s lead. Matt bet it all and he was RIGHT.
Connected to the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Strait of Bonifacio separates these 2 islands show
Roger found the last Daily Double in “Laying Down the Law” under the $2,000 clue on the 15th pick of the round. He was in second place with $9,600, $14,800 less than Matt’s lead. Roger bet it and he was RIGHT.
The D.O.J. states that elements of this paired crime involve the “intent to facilitate the commission of a crime by another” show
Matt finished in the lead with $30,000. Roger was second with $22,800 and Juveria was last with $1,000. All clues were shown.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS FIBONACCI?
Italian mathematician Leonardo di Pisa is commonly known as Fibonacci, sort of a portmanteau of “filius” (Latin for son) and Bonacci (his surname). His father, Guglielmo Bonacci, “ran a Pisan trading post in Bugia in present-day Algeria. It was there that Fibonacci got to know the Indo-Arabic numeral system from an Islamic teacher and became enthusiastic about it.” (ETH.Zurich).
After much travel and study of number systems, Fibonacci returned to Pisa and wrote “Liber abaci” (“Book of arithmetic”), introducing the Hindu–Arabic numeral system to Europe, leading to its eventual adoption by the western world. Many consider that his greatest achievement, although he is better known nowadays for the mathematical sequence explained in the video.
Juveria bet $500 and finished with $1,500.
Roger bet $7,597 and finished with $30,397.
Matt bet $15,601 and won the game with $45,601. So it’s one down for Matt, who thoroughly dominated Double Jeopardy! If Matt wins tomorrow, the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament will be over.
A triple stumper from each round:
ALL THE NON-HUMAN BOOK CHARACTERS ($200) In the sci-fi novel “Children of Time”, humans must vie with Portia & Bianca, genetically juiced “jumping” types of this arachnid
EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY ($400) The D’Arcy Concession, which led to the creation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., later BP, was signed in this Asian city in 1901
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “GEOGRAPHIC NAME’S THE SAME”
The busiest passenger port in the U.K., it shares its name with a capital of one of the original 13 states show
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Missed the first round. I did get 2/3 DDs but not Final. Lamely guessed Malta and Sicily for the 2nd DD.
Matt’s “Who Fibonacci” carried on his utter lack of decent grammar. He must have had enough time to insert “is” or “was.” Normally he begins every response with “What’s.”
The arachnid clue was a gimme. Asian city in Persia was too.
Juveria was a non-factor; I hope she rebounds and makes it a 3-way game.
The grammatical error was likely an oversight on Matt’s part.
Except he did it two nights earlier (“Who Randolph”) and I’m sure has done the same many times in the past. And I think he also frequently omits the question mark. Before he even appeared on the show, his attorney father told him he’d be on solid ground by beginning every response with “What’s.”
imo, it’s just one of those things some players do to stand out. Matt would stand out for his game play alone but, as he said himself, he wants to be a “villain” so like the Bonnie Raitt song, he gives them something to talk about. Obviously, it works. 🤣
Matt said before that the “What’s” saves him time and brain power. By using a uniform way, it’s one less thing to think about.
I believe that doing that is actually pretty savvy.
And, don’t they advise players to start their response during the break, with the “What is” or “Who is”, in case it’s a long solve (a la Sophie, was it?).?
Maybe that’s so, Jason — maybe it does save him brain power. It just seems far more natural to me that one automatically says who when the answer requires that. So I think he had to train himself to say “what’s” all the time. My opinion, btw, is not based on skepticism. It’s based on training myself to do some things a certain way.
Yes, many contestants have said they tell you to write ‘who is’ or ‘what is’ before the FJ! clue is revealed.
Matt was again at his best, and emerged the champion. Well done Matt! As for Fibonacci, I never heard of the mathematician until today. Anyways, I went with Leonardo Da Vinci for FJ as I thought that the esteemed scientist and engineer was also a mathematician.
I missed Final too, but am familiar with the Fibonacci sequence, such as 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… in which the next number is the sum of the previous two.
Kudos to Roger for preventing a runaway with that last DD. I hope he wins tomorrow. Roger used to be the guy who always buzzed in first, whether he knew it or not. If he didn’t, he figured it out more times than not.
I’m not counting Juveria out either. I hope she has a better game tomorrow and wins Friday’s game.
I hope either Roger or Juveria wins tomorrow. At some point, Matt’s gonna have a bad day, and this “villain” will get defeated.
That means if Matt wins tomorrow, he will become the 2025 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament champion and he will return to the Jeopardy Masters in primetime this spring on ABC. Roger and Juveria needed to win a game tomorrow to prevent Matt from putting the tournament away.
Well, yeah, Kevin, I was gonna get around to that if he wins.