Let’s Make a Deal with Paul the Octopus

As summer reaches its midpoint, we come to the end of another rousing year of World Cup soccer.  As with any international sporting event, fans all over the world have undoubtedly had their share of ups and downs.  Of all the countries in this year’s tournament, however, I think Germany may be receiving the most attention, . . . → Read More: Let’s Make a Deal with Paul the Octopus

Mathematics Awareness Month 2010

As April comes and goes, so too does Mathematics Awareness Month.  Every year, the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics swirls mathematics with a different delightful discipline: last year it was climate, and the year before was voting.

This year’s theme is mathematics and sports, a topic which has inspired a number of articles . . . → Read More: Mathematics Awareness Month 2010

Lying with Statistics in Football

In the aftermath of the Super Bowl, some of you fans may be dreading the next six months.  To kick off this football drought, I’d like to highlight this article, which was featured on Yahoo yesterday.  The article says that Saints quarterback Drew Brees should hope to lose the coin toss at the start of the . . . → Read More: Lying with Statistics in Football

Football Pools, Part 3

This is the third in a series of posts about pools used for betting on the outcome of football games (part one can be found here, and part two here).  Let me briefly recall the setting, which is probably familiar to anyone who has been to a Super Bowl party.  Typically, one bets on the outcome . . . → Read More: Football Pools, Part 3

More on Football Pools

Update: Part 3 of this series of posts can now be found here.

This post is a follow-up to an earlier post that looked at betting squares for football scores. In particular, we analyzed the distribution of the second digit of final football scores, and compared that to the digital root of final football scores (recall . . . → Read More: More on Football Pools

Ballpark Mathematics

Like the dawn of a new day, the start of the baseball season carries with it tremendous promise. These first few weeks provide a reprieve from the breakneck pace of March Madness, where every team is burdened with the knowledge that one loss is all it takes to prevent it from total victory. Instead, . . . → Read More: Ballpark Mathematics

The Math of March Madness

With the NCAA college basketball tournament now well under way, no doubt many of you are following the games closely, and vying for your teams to make it to that sacred promised land known as the Final Four. Even the President’s caught some of the madness.

When filling out a bracket, of course you would like . . . → Read More: The Math of March Madness

A Variant of the Traditional Football Pool

Update: Part two of this three-part series on football betting pools can be found here.  Part three is here.

During this month’s Super Bowl, like many of my fellow Americans, I participated in the great tradition of the football pool. This method of betting on a football game is quite simple. For those of you . . . → Read More: A Variant of the Traditional Football Pool