March Madness
My March Madness stuff is all set. I've got my bracket filled out for the AZPHC League where we just play for fun. I've also got my bracket filled out for work where it cost me $5 to play. And, this year, I'm in a new contest.
Picture a Superbowl grid with numbers 0-9 randomly assigned to each row and column. Instead of specific teams on each axis, it's Winning Team and Losing Team. If the last digit of each score matches your numbers, you win. The nifty thing is that we're paying out something on every tournament game!
My numbers are 6-0 and 9-7. So, if any team wins #6 to #0 or #9 to #7 where # is any number at all, I collect some dough. Total buy in was $20 for two squares and, doing the math, the total payout is $1,000.
6-0 and 9-7 would have been great Superbowl numbers. I had crappy numbers this year like 5-8 and 2-5 or something highly unlikely. So, I think I'm due to win some major bucks in this game.
I sent the grid to The Rocket Scientist in case he was interested in following our progress (there are two other poker boys gambling with me). Now, I know when you think "Rocket Scientist" you probably get a mental image of an outgoing, partying type of guy who's really, really fun and possibly known to wear the occasional lampshade on his head. I know I do. Here's what he said back to me:
...there is probably an equal chance for any of the 10 digits to come up. One could argue that with a majority of the baskets being of the two point variety that those with even numbers would have a better chance, but it only takes one odd basket to make it odd and with free throws and 3-point baskets, that is highly likely. I don't really see any statistical edge for any numbers. Once could go through the past 10 years of tournament history and see what the final scores were with respect to the last digits but I suspect it would show very little variation, if any.
Blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah. Way to kill the fun Rocket Scientist image, dude.
He likes to pull this math stuff out to put a damper on my (not at all rational) fun.
Picture a Superbowl grid with numbers 0-9 randomly assigned to each row and column. Instead of specific teams on each axis, it's Winning Team and Losing Team. If the last digit of each score matches your numbers, you win. The nifty thing is that we're paying out something on every tournament game!
My numbers are 6-0 and 9-7. So, if any team wins #6 to #0 or #9 to #7 where # is any number at all, I collect some dough. Total buy in was $20 for two squares and, doing the math, the total payout is $1,000.
6-0 and 9-7 would have been great Superbowl numbers. I had crappy numbers this year like 5-8 and 2-5 or something highly unlikely. So, I think I'm due to win some major bucks in this game.
I sent the grid to The Rocket Scientist in case he was interested in following our progress (there are two other poker boys gambling with me). Now, I know when you think "Rocket Scientist" you probably get a mental image of an outgoing, partying type of guy who's really, really fun and possibly known to wear the occasional lampshade on his head. I know I do. Here's what he said back to me:
...there is probably an equal chance for any of the 10 digits to come up. One could argue that with a majority of the baskets being of the two point variety that those with even numbers would have a better chance, but it only takes one odd basket to make it odd and with free throws and 3-point baskets, that is highly likely. I don't really see any statistical edge for any numbers. Once could go through the past 10 years of tournament history and see what the final scores were with respect to the last digits but I suspect it would show very little variation, if any.
Blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah. Way to kill the fun Rocket Scientist image, dude.
He likes to pull this math stuff out to put a damper on my (not at all rational) fun.
