← The Points Curve · Lesson 1 of 3
A cube of a ratio
World Aquatics scores a swim with one formula: points = 1000 × (base ÷ time)³. The base is a time set from world records at the start of each period; for 2026 long course, the men’s 50 freestyle base is 20.91 and the women’s is 23.61.
A swim equal to the base scores exactly 1,000. Bases are fixed for the period, so a new record can beat them: Cameron McEvoy’s 20.88 in March 2026 works out at about 1,004 points.
A swim takes exactly twice the base time. How many points does it score?
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