Why Statistics Professors Don't Enjoy Baseball Games...
So, what's more amazing? The fact that one guy caught two homerun balls in a single baseball game (alright, a double baseball game - it was 18 innings long), or the fact that the Chairman of the Department of Statistics at Stamford University calculates the odds of catching a homerun ball, without factoring in the thousands of seat-sized spaces in the outfield where a homerun could land and no one would catch it?
(Side note: I bet the guy figured he had million dollar souvenirs on his hands. Must've been a letdown when someone offerred him $20 for the pair...
posted by Brian at
5:08 PM
2 Comments:
I wouldn't blame the stats professor. I'm guessing that the reporter screwed up the quote.
For that matter, I can't really figure out what his statistic means. My guess is that it is "if you are in a seat in the area where home runs can land, and there are two home runs hit into that area, what is the chance that you (or, perhaps, any person in that area) will catch two".
By
Michael Weinmayr, at 10:59 AM, October 11, 2005
Agreed. Heck, it might as well have been "if you are in a seat where home runs can land, and two home runs are hit to that seat, what is the chance..."
In either case, it's a long way from the headline "Odds of catching 2 long shots not as high as you think"
By
Brian, at 12:39 AM, October 12, 2005
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