K12> [WWWEDU] Mathematics and Baseball

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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: wang@xxxxxxx
To:
Sent: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:28:27 -0400
Subject: [WWWEDU] Mathematics and Baseball

Hello,

For those who may encounter skeptics who question the relevance of
mathematics, I thought you might wish to refer them to the following URL:

http://riot.ieor.berkeley.edu/~baseball

[From Science (vol. 300): 4 April 2003]

Yeeeeeeeeeer Out!

With  baseball  season less than a week old, it's a little early to give up
on  the Boston Red Sox.  But if you want to know when your favorite team is
mathematically eliminated from playoff contention ? or when it's clinched a
postseason spot ? keep tabs on the Baseball Playoff Races Web site from the
Remote Interactive Optimization Testbed (RIOT) project at the University of
California,  Berkeley.  Since 1996, the RIOT group has used algorithms from
operations  research  to determine when teams have no chance of catching up
(or being caught).

The  calculation  takes  into  account  more  than  won-loss records.  RIOT
applies  techniques  from  optimization  theory  to find the best and worst
scenarios for each team, given the combinations possible from the remaining
schedule.   In  1996, for example, the San Francisco Giants (59-81) trailed
the  Los  Angeles  Dodgers  (78-63)  by 19 games with 22 let to play.  They
seemed  to  have  a  slim chance, but in fact they were already eliminated.
Los  Angeles  was  scheduled to play seven more games against the San Diego
Padres  (78-65).   One  of the teams would win at least four of those games
and  finish  with  a  minimum  of  82  wins, one more than the Giants could
conceivably muster.

Doing  such  calculations  across  an entire league could make for a snarly
supercomputer problem; the algorithm uses linear programming to cut through
the complications.

Patsy
**************************************
Patsy Wang-Iverson, Ph.D.
Research for Better Schools
112 N. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102-1510
vox: 215.568.6150 x264
fax: 215.568.7260
net: wang@xxxxxxx
web: http://www.rbs.org

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