Math geeks...

[sam_gordon]

Can someone explain the calculations to me? These are the current standings in my son's conference...


I don't understand how ties factor in. Look at the top two teams. #1 has won 3/4 games, so the .750 makes sense to me. #4 has won 2/3 games, so I get .667. But how do you get .75 from 2-0-2 and .625 from 2-1-1?

It's not total points vs possible points? #2 has played four games, so 12 total possible points (3pts for win), but has earned 8 (1pt for each tie). 8/12 =.667.

 

[_19disnA]

Appears they are counting a 'tie' as .5 of a win. The math works if you count it that way.

 

[SirDuff]

Looks like 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.

So, team 1 got 2x3=6 out of 8.
And, team 2 got 2x2 plus 1x2 = 6 out of 8
And team 3 got 2x2 plus 1x1 = 5 out of 8

Didn’t check that my theory works beyond those teams though.

 

[design_mom]

I think a win = 2 points, loss = 0 points, and tie = 1 point.

So a team who’s won 3 and lost won has 6 of 8 possible points. And a team that’s won 2 and tied 2 also has 6 of 8 possible points. The team that’s 2-1-1 has 5 of 8 points (0.625, etc)

 

[sam_gordon]

Thank you all. There's no descriptor on the page to say "2 pts for a win", and the standard is 3. But yes, that seems to work.

Thanks!

 

[design_mom]

Thank you all. There's no descriptor on the page to say "2 pts for a win", and the standard is 3. But yes, that seems to work.

Thanks!

The math works regardless of how many points, as long as the tie is worth half as much as a win. (My kids stopped soccer at the middle-school level, so I'm more familiar with hockey... and hockey uses a 2 for a win, 1 for a tie.)

At 3 points per win, there'd be 12 possible points (4 games played with a max 3 points earnable per game).
A 3-1-0 record = 9/12 = 0.750
A 2-0-2 record is also 9/12 = 0.750
2-1-1 = 7.5/12 = 0.625

 

[PollyannaMom]

I see it's already been answered, but had to say hi to my fellow math geeks!

 

[SirDuff]

Thank you all. There's no descriptor on the page to say "2 pts for a win", and the standard is 3. But yes, that seems to work.

Thanks!

Fine, then it’s 3 for the win and 1.5 for the tie.

 

[disneychrista]

And people say they don't have use algebra for in their day to day lives.

 

[RedAngie]

I prefer the hockey method of total points rather than winning percentages.

 

[sam_gordon]

I prefer the hockey method of total points rather than winning percentages.

And every soccer tournament and league we've been involved with over the last ~15 years has used points. Traditionally it's 3/win, 1/tie.* This is the first table I've seen sorted by percentage.

*There was one tournament we participated in that did 6/win, 3/tie, 1/each goal (max 3), 1/shutout, so a total of 10 points available for each game.