How long will it take on Yahoo Answers to improve from 13% best answers to 20 % best answers?

Obviously, your new best answer rate will have to exceed 20% in order to reach that overall rate.

Equally obviously, the point system awards some points for actions (like checking daily) which have nothing to do with your best answer rate.

Say you have answered 1500 questions with a 13% best answer rate, and you raise your best answer rate to 25% from here on. To get an overall rate of 20%, you'd have to answer some number of questions (call it Q) such that

195 + .25Q = .20 * (1500 + Q)

and now we can solve for Q:

.05Q = 300 - 195 = 105

Q = 2100

So you'd have to answer 2100 questions, keeping the best-answer rate over all of them to 25%. If you maintain a higher rate, you could do it in fewer.

Of course, I've made some assumptions here rather than poking into your actual statistics, but your new, improved best-answer rate is a highly speculative assumption in any case.

Till now you have answered 1293 questions out of which you have, say, 30 unresolved questions.

Till now, you have 169 best answers.

By your 13% best answer, out of those 30 unresolved questions, you will get 0.13 x 30 = 3.9 = 4 (approx) best answers.

So let us make an assumption that after all of the questions to your 1293 answers are resolved, you would have (169 + 4) = 173 best answers.

Now, it depends on for how much percentage of the questions you answer now, you will get best answer. Suppose from now on you have a p% of best answers to all the questions you answer from now on.

Suppose you need to answer N more questions, to attain overall 20% best answer record.

Then, (173 + pN/100) / (1293 + N) = 0.2

(173 + pN/100) / (1293 + N) = 1/5

5(173 + pN/100) = (1293 + N)

865 + pN/20 = 1293 + N

(p/20 - 1)N = 428

N = 428 / (p/20 - 1)

Thus, if you get 40 % of the questions you answer now chosen as best answer then p = 40 and N = 428.

However, if you get 80% of the questions you answer now chosen as best answer then p = 80 and N = 143 [N must be whole number].

Rarest situation, if you get 100% i.e. all of the questions you answer now chosen as best answer then p = 100 and N = 107.

So, you have to answer AT LEAST 107 more questions to get 20% overall best answer.

Best answers depends. If you give worthwhile answers, people will be more likely to give you a best answer score.

Detailed answers can be good, whereas sometimes simple answers suffice. Also, the best way is to answer questions in an area where you have some expertise. I am a chemist, so I answer a lot of chemistry questions.

Hope this helps a bit.