← Love, Fifteen, Thirty · Lesson 3 of 3
Where 15-30-40 came from
Nobody knows for sure. One popular story says scores were kept on a clock face, moving the hand a quarter at a time: 15, 30, 45, then 60 for the game, with 45 later shortened to 40. Another links the counts to an older French handball game.
The surviving sources do not settle it, so the honest answer is that the origin is unsettled. The maths of the score does not depend on it.
How should a careful fan describe the clock-face story?
A lesson is kept once you've answered the question and written at least 8 words. Nobody grades it; it stays on this device.