{"title":"An applied statistics teaching lesson that uses NBA playoff data to illustrate uncertainty in sporting contests","authors":"Rotua Lumbantobing, Todd McFall","doi":"10.1111/test.12313","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we offer a teaching lesson on combinatorics and binary outcomes that utilizes real‐world data. The focus of the lesson is to teach students how to analyze the effects of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2003 decision to extend the first round of its postseason from a best‐of‐five series of games to a best‐of‐seven series using combinatorics and ideas about binary outcomes. Students conjecture how much longer series will make less certain the outcomes of these series and then use the 27 years of first‐round series results we provide to evaluate their conjectures on how series results have changed since 2003. After finishing this lesson, students will have a firmer grasp on applying combinatorics and binary outcomes to real‐world situations. This lesson is compatible with both traditional and remote classes and can be extended to other sports, making it a lesson for all academic seasons.","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/test.12313","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this article, we offer a teaching lesson on combinatorics and binary outcomes that utilizes real‐world data. The focus of the lesson is to teach students how to analyze the effects of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2003 decision to extend the first round of its postseason from a best‐of‐five series of games to a best‐of‐seven series using combinatorics and ideas about binary outcomes. Students conjecture how much longer series will make less certain the outcomes of these series and then use the 27 years of first‐round series results we provide to evaluate their conjectures on how series results have changed since 2003. After finishing this lesson, students will have a firmer grasp on applying combinatorics and binary outcomes to real‐world situations. This lesson is compatible with both traditional and remote classes and can be extended to other sports, making it a lesson for all academic seasons.
期刊介绍：
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.
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