How to ask a question to get an ordinal number answer [duplicate]

Solution 1:

I'd go with the following structure:

Q: Where does Obama fall in the sequence of US presidents?

A: [He's the] 44th [president].

This reflects similar usage when discussing, for instance, rankings:

Q: Where did Harvard fall on the U.S. News & World Report list this year?

A: 2nd.

Solution 2:

For a relatively well-educated audience, you might try:

What ordinal number represents the position of Barack Obama in the succession of US presidents?

Solution 3:

I think the OP wants this to be question structure which could be asked of any president. I think giving examples would make it clear.

If George Washington was the 1st President of the United States, and John Adams was the 2nd, what number president is Barack Obama?

Obviously if you wanted to ask the question on John Adams you could simply replace his example with another; e.g. Theodore Roosevelt (the 26th).

Solution 4:

This is quite a tough question. My suggestion is:

• How many presidencies preceded Obama? 43
• Including Obama, how many presidencies have we had? 44
• Which president count does Obama have?
• What's the chronological number of obama as a president of America?

I hope I could help you a bit