Sports by the Numbers

• How real are winning and losing streaks?  What about other claims in sports?
• Are games fair --- what about home team adavantage in the World Series or serving first in tennis?
• Is the team that wins the most games "best"?   If winning teams or valuable players are decided by voting, should we decide the winner?
• Records were set at the Mexico City olympics.  Was this just due to the fact that Mexico City is so high?
• How can we schedule matches?  (There are conditions such as who should play whom.)
• How can we bet on sports matches and win --- or can't we?
• On a lighter note: How important is size?  For example, are fleas better jumpers than people?

These are some of the questions that need various kinds of  mathematics --- probability, statistics, elementary and college algebra, combinatorics.  Some questions are connected with other subjects including physics, physiology and social science.  We won't assume any background in mathematics beyond, maybe, a little calculus.  Prof. Small will discuss baseball, especially its statistics.

My Modules in Postscript and PDF

• Sherlock Holmes and Bicycle Tracks (ps or pdf) Just a little something after we've outlined the quarter

• A Matter of Proportion (ps or pdf) People versus fleas, Mexico City olympics, dimensional analysis
• Betting on Football Pools (ps or pdf) Office pools and for-profit pools with a digression into a hat problem
• "And the Winner is ..." (ps or pdf) Is the winning team the best?  A conundrum with three teams.  Can we have fair elections?
• Fair Play (ps or pdf) Are tennis and the World Series fair?  What are the chances of an upset?