In ice skating, why is the judging out of 6?

zbeckabee

Skating was formerly judged for "technical merit" (in the free skate), "required elements" (in the short program), and "presentation" (in both programs). The marks for each program ran from 0.0 to 6.0, the latter being the highest. These marks were used to determine a preference ranking, or "ordinal", separately for each judge; the judges' preferences were then combined to determine placements for each skater in each program. The placements for the two programs were then combined, with the free skate placement weighted more heavily than the short program. The highest placing individual (based on the sum of the weighted placements) was declared the winner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating#The_6.0_System Mar 16 08, 2:22 PM

swizzletwizzle

The judging now, however, is no longer out of 6. There is now a "code of points" system (also known as the International Judging System), and skaters are given two scores. These scores are combined to give them the final total score. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISU_Judging_System Dec 02 12, 10:51 AM