Math Students Demonstrate Success with March Madness Brackets Using Teacher’s Method
Math Students Demonstrate Success with March Madness Brackets Using Teacher’s Method lead image
CJN, ISNS | Doug L. via Flickr
(Inside Science) -- In our recent Inside Science TV video, “Math Improves March Madness Predictions,” mathematician Tim Chartier of Davidson College describes a math-assisted method for filling out the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket, the form that allows you to choose the winners of each game in the tournament. So far, Chartier and several of his students are doing well with this year’s tournament.
In past years, Chartier beat 97 percent of the over 5 million brackets submitted to the ESPN challenge, a yearly activity in which fans can submit their picks. His method takes into account such things as a team’s win-loss record, the difficulty of its regular season, and its momentum, for example, if it has a winning streak towards the end of the season. With the method, Chartier splits up the regular season into parts, and with a computer, he gives the regular game results each part of the season a different weight or importance depending on how crucial he thinks each part of the season is in predicting the outcome of the tournament.
In his math classes, Chartier encourages his students to try their hand at using the method. Inside Science TV’s Karin Heineman, who wrote and produced the video segment, followed up with Chartier to ask how he and his students are doing this year. Chartier reports several students are having success.
According to Chartier, one student integrated the scores of regular season games into the method and is currently in the 96th percentile of over 6 million brackets. Another student, he said used math--although
he’s not presently sure what method he adapted--and is in the 99.8 percentile. A student in a class for non-math and non-science majors used the code from the segment and is in the 88 percentile.
Chartier himself predicts Kentucky will win this year’s tournament, and indeed, Kentucky is in the Final Four. You can see Chartier’s top 10 teams using the method by watching the video.
How are you doing with your bracket? Was there a method to your Madness? Please let us know here.
