Having a father for an accountant doesn't automatically equal a bright mathematical mind -- as my GCSE maths results will attest -- but I think I may have found the solution to the latest numbers game stumping Palace fans.
The Eagles have, for the past three or four years, played the modern 4-2-3-1 formation that virtually every club in the world now employs. Even my Sunday League team plays it -- to varying degrees of success (based mostly on whether the opposition is hungover).
It means there are two spaces in the centre of midfield as well as an attacking midfield/support striker role going free. That's three places up for grabs, but when all the Eagles players are fit and well (as they are now), four first-teamers are vying for those three positions; Mile Jedinak, James McArthur, Joe Ledley and Marouane Chamakh.
For the past few weeks, Chamakh has been out injured, meaning McArthur, Jedinak and Ledley ("McJedley" as they've been dubbed by Palace fans) have been filling those positions with McArthur and Ledley taking turns in the attacking role.
Chamakh has now returned to full fitness, and the Eagles desperately need his creativity on the pitch. It has been missing for the past few weeks, despite Frazier Campbell's industrious efforts up top and McJedley's robust and lung-busting performances in the middle. There is, though, no substitute for Chamakh's guile and ability to link up the midfield and attack.
Ideally Chamakh would drop back into his preferred No. 10 role for Saturday's crucial trip to West Brom, which means one of the other three needs to be booted out. As I wrote last week, it would be foolish to drop Jedinak given he is the captain and for what he brings to the team, so one of McArthur and Ledley needs to be hooked.
But there is a solution that can keep them both and sort out one of Palace's other positional problems.
You see, when Ledley first arrived at Palace in January, he made his debut in the 3-1 win at Selhurst against the very same West Brom not as a midfielder but at left back. And you know what, he was brilliant. He even scored on a bullet header from a corner. He was composed, positionally sound and strong and looked like he had played there for years.
He has since moved into central midfield and has carried those traits with him to become one of the Premier League's most underrated players.
So my solution for this weekend -- to keep McJedley in the team and find space for Chamakh -- would be to move Ledley to left back again.
It would also bring to an end this ludicrous insistence of playing Palace's best right-back at the club, Joel Ward, at left-back. Despite the fact he is as versatile as a paperclip, you want your best players playing in their strongest positions. For Ward that is right back.
In the middle of the defence, both first-choice centre backs, Scott Dann and Damien Delaney, are missing, which leaves Brede Hangeland, Adrian Mariappa and Martin Kelly vying for a starting spot. Hangeland's sluggish displays this season would suggest what little pace he had has been drained, leading most Palace fans to back Mariappa and Kelly. It's no Dann and Delaney, but it will do.
With Ledley at left back and Ward safely at right back, it would at least give the back line a bit more of a comfortable look to it, even if it isn't the strongest available.
The idea of nippy Baggies forward Saido Berahino coming up against Hangeland fills most Eagles fans with the sort of dread not felt since Valerien Ismael used to lineup in defence. (Ironically he went on to become one of France's best defenders but was genuinely terrible for Palace in 1998. He let Carl Leaburn score twice. Carl Leaburn!).
This move, although not ideal, would at least give Palace a chance of coming away from the Hawthorns with a result to continue what's been a promising start to the season. As maths problems go, it's not "Good Will Hunting" -- in fact it's barely "Sesame Street" -- but it will do.