Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Fans Use Mathematics in Sports, Second Edition
- Downloads：3303
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-02-24 09:19:32
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Wayne L. Winston
- ISBN：0691177627
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
How to use math to improve performance and predict outcomes in professional sports
Mathletics reveals the mathematical methods top coaches and managers use to evaluate players and improve team performance， and gives math enthusiasts the practical skills they need to enhance their understanding and enjoyment of their favorite sports--and maybe even gain the outside edge to winning bets。 This second edition features new data， new players and teams， and new chapters on soccer， e-sports， golf， volleyball， gambling Calcuttas， analysis of camera data， Bayesian inference， ridge regression， and other statistical techniques。 After reading Mathletics， you will understand why baseball teams should almost never bunt; why football overtime systems are unfair; why points， rebounds， and assists aren't enough to determine who's the NBA's best player; and more。
Mathletics reveals the mathematical methods top coaches and managers use to evaluate players and improve team performance， and gives math enthusiasts the practical skills they need to enhance their understanding and enjoyment of their favorite sports--and maybe even gain the outside edge to winning bets。 This second edition features new data， new players and teams， and new chapters on soccer， e-sports， golf， volleyball， gambling Calcuttas， analysis of camera data， Bayesian inference， ridge regression， and other statistical techniques。 After reading Mathletics， you will understand why baseball teams should almost never bunt; why football overtime systems are unfair; why points， rebounds， and assists aren't enough to determine who's the NBA's best player; and more。
Reviews
Online Casino Australia
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Got this book from my oldest son for my birthday and it was pretty awesome although I would have loved to see it getting a bit more in-depth on the mathematics side with more complex calculations。 I really love books about math combined with gambling in （online casinos）。
Devendra Mittal
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Really great to understand the rational behind making some decisions。
John Doe
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Simple and useful。Not a bad read。 Wish I had picked it up back in the days betting on football games。My favorite part is all the tables loaded with data。If you dont have the patience to read the whole book， just read the tables。 :）
Jack Stroud
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Book is outdated
Doug Ward
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Winston gives a great survey in 51 short chapters of the ways in which the tools of operations research can be used in analyzing sports， with emphasis on American major league baseball， NFL football， and the NBA。 An annotated bibliography gives sources of additional information。
William Schram
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Using a spreadsheet program and a modicum of knowledge on how to use it， you too can follow along with this book and figure out stats in sports ball。 Moneyball is a thing， but I neither watched the movie nor read the book。 This book goes into that kind of math。Mathletics is a book that uses Applied Mathematics to demonstrate the method of figuring sports stats。 It uses Markov Chains， Monte Carlo Methods， and more。 There’s a whole bunch of things that a modern spreadsheet can do and I didn’t real Using a spreadsheet program and a modicum of knowledge on how to use it， you too can follow along with this book and figure out stats in sports ball。 Moneyball is a thing， but I neither watched the movie nor read the book。 This book goes into that kind of math。Mathletics is a book that uses Applied Mathematics to demonstrate the method of figuring sports stats。 It uses Markov Chains， Monte Carlo Methods， and more。 There’s a whole bunch of things that a modern spreadsheet can do and I didn’t realize。 The book points out a number of things that are factored into figuring out each statistic for a player。 I’m assuming that this book comes with a deluge of data since it references spreadsheet files。 They might be connected to a website or something of that nature because this book doesn’t have a disk accompanying it。The book is divided into four major parts。 The first part is focused on Baseball。 This part discusses the effects of each individual player， the effect that the Park they play in has on hits， the effect of the pitcher on the game and a lot of other information。 The second part is focused on American Football。 For example， it discusses the decision-making that goes into choosing a Field Goal over a Two-point conversion attempt。 The third part focuses on Basketball。 The final section focuses on Gambling。 It talks about how much to bet on something， and how the odds are produced。The book is really informative。 It has a lot of data tables and images of spreadsheets so it goes by quickly。 There are also a ton of equations to whet your mathematical appetite。 A lot of it focuses on probability which is expected in the case of games。 However， this book is not for the mathematically disinclined。 While the equations aren’t too heavy-duty and a lot of it is done with a spreadsheet， it still discusses some advanced stuff。 My other problem is with jargon。 Although the book does tell you what things are， it goes on to use a lot of acronyms and shorthand for things。 Thankfully， a lot of the abbreviations and acronyms are explained in the front of the book and organized alphabetically。 。。。more
Andrew
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I've just recently got into sports data analysis as a hobby， particularly NFL football， and this book has given me a solid grounding in methods used and how best to interpret them。 Much more so than any statistics or maths textbook has。An absolute must read and highly recommended。 I've just recently got into sports data analysis as a hobby， particularly NFL football， and this book has given me a solid grounding in methods used and how best to interpret them。 Much more so than any statistics or maths textbook has。An absolute must read and highly recommended。 。。。more
Cristian Keller
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It's not simple for me to rate this Book。 On the one hand it's very interesting。 You can find many useful things about sports Statistics。 It can be useful for sportman， betters， coaches and so on。 On the other hand it's too specifically for USA Sport （Baseball， Football and Basket）。 And in my case sometimes I have problem to understand some things especially on Baseball。 I think it's very useful for USA readers。 Perhaps for others less。 It's not simple for me to rate this Book。 On the one hand it's very interesting。 You can find many useful things about sports Statistics。 It can be useful for sportman， betters， coaches and so on。 On the other hand it's too specifically for USA Sport （Baseball， Football and Basket）。 And in my case sometimes I have problem to understand some things especially on Baseball。 I think it's very useful for USA readers。 Perhaps for others less。 。。。more
Tony
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A good book to read if you are interested in sports wagering and/or fantasy sports。
Paul Dilley
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I read only the baseball section， which was a good description of the most widely used "classic" sabremetric statistics spread out over about 17 chapters。 It was published in 2009， so nothing about the Statcast "revolution，" and very little on probabilistic modeling and its dis/advantages （though some forecasting and a chapter on MonteCarlo simulation）。 Definitely not written at the level of an undergraduate introduction， but of course that's not an inherent fault。 And despite the playful title， I read only the baseball section， which was a good description of the most widely used "classic" sabremetric statistics spread out over about 17 chapters。 It was published in 2009， so nothing about the Statcast "revolution，" and very little on probabilistic modeling and its dis/advantages （though some forecasting and a chapter on MonteCarlo simulation）。 Definitely not written at the level of an undergraduate introduction， but of course that's not an inherent fault。 And despite the playful title， the writing is textbook-dry and contextual narrative is scarce， choppy and disappointing。 There are some gems like a six sentence isolated paragraph on why the Yankees underperform， beginning with "Most baseball fans are surprised that the Yankees， with their huge payroll， do not win the World Series every year" （69）。 I also laughed when reading the two-paragraph section entitled "Is Alex Rodriguez （A-Rod） Overpaid？" The answer speaks for itself: "Therefore， for A-Rod to generate fair value over the next ten years he would need to continue to produce at the level of his phenomenal 2007 season for the 2008-2016 seasons" （82）。 。。。more
Nelson
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Would be five stars if the title weren't ridiculously cheesy and if it were more updated。 This book accompanies Winston's Coursera class。 I've found useful data and methods useful to my research， both in his class （the effect of penalties on MOV in NCAA） and in this book （calculating win probabilities）。 Also， this book has been peer reviewed。 Would be five stars if the title weren't ridiculously cheesy and if it were more updated。 This book accompanies Winston's Coursera class。 I've found useful data and methods useful to my research， both in his class （the effect of penalties on MOV in NCAA） and in this book （calculating win probabilities）。 Also， this book has been peer reviewed。 。。。more
Daniel
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This book is very heavy on the math， not necessarily showing the work behind the formulas but definitely showing all the formulas involved in the analysis。 I feel like a background in statistics would greatly enhance my appreciation of the book but it was an enjoyable exploration of the subject nonetheless。
Roger Grinde
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Lots of examples of how data， models， and statistics （a。k。a。， analytics） are used in sports。 Winston goes right to demonstrate various analyses， without any of the background theory。 This keeps the discussion at a level where any reader can read it， and essentially pick and choose where to focus。 He also provides an extensive list of references in an annotated bibliography for those wishing to delve deeper。 My primary criticism is that， while you can download the files used in the book， a number Lots of examples of how data， models， and statistics （a。k。a。， analytics） are used in sports。 Winston goes right to demonstrate various analyses， without any of the background theory。 This keeps the discussion at a level where any reader can read it， and essentially pick and choose where to focus。 He also provides an extensive list of references in an annotated bibliography for those wishing to delve deeper。 My primary criticism is that， while you can download the files used in the book， a number of the files he references in the book are not in the downloadable zip file。 。。。more
Safervas
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Vry usefull
Soumya
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huh。。。what was new in it。。。。
Wayne Lorentzen
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Mike
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This would be a good book to use for a semester long class is applied statistics。
Ben Foutty
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Baseball section was great the rest was very lacking
John
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Took me a while to get through， but that's ok as each chapter is really a short essay of its own。 I skimmed more than a few of them。 It is very interesting stuff， though there were a few leaps/assumptions made that I didn't quite understand， or in some case， that I disagreed with。 Would be fun to have a talk with this author。This is a good book to read to help a runner think a bit outside the box。 We tend to get stuck in our ways of thinking and this reminds us that it's always worth it to re-ex Took me a while to get through， but that's ok as each chapter is really a short essay of its own。 I skimmed more than a few of them。 It is very interesting stuff， though there were a few leaps/assumptions made that I didn't quite understand， or in some case， that I disagreed with。 Would be fun to have a talk with this author。This is a good book to read to help a runner think a bit outside the box。 We tend to get stuck in our ways of thinking and this reminds us that it's always worth it to re-examine our beliefs。 Our doctrinal adhesions as it were。 。。。more
Lia
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This was way more "mathy" than Scorecasting， and not as well-written， but there were a few chapters/topics that I think I can use with my Sports Stats kids。 This was way more "mathy" than Scorecasting， and not as well-written， but there were a few chapters/topics that I think I can use with my Sports Stats kids。 。。。more
Scott
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A nerdy book that I thoroughly enjoyed since it connected two of my loves， mathematics and sports。 An enjoyable book on the use of statistics and mathematics in sports。
Jeramey
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Reads much more like a textbook than I expected， but still highly informative。 Definitely not the first "sports and math" book I would read。 If you're well versed in statistical analysis or really into the use of math in sports， you'll enjoy this book。 Reads much more like a textbook than I expected， but still highly informative。 Definitely not the first "sports and math" book I would read。 If you're well versed in statistical analysis or really into the use of math in sports， you'll enjoy this book。 。。。more
Brian Lindawson
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Stats and Sports。 Interesting stuff。 Couldn't focus on the math by the end。 Liked Moneyball more Stats and Sports。 Interesting stuff。 Couldn't focus on the math by the end。 Liked Moneyball more 。。。more
John
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I didn't really find anything in there that you wouldn't already learn from college stat/probability course but had some interesting stuff but better for someone that doesn't already know anything。 3 stars cause I would recommend this book but not for trading or if you already have a grasp of statistics。 I didn't really find anything in there that you wouldn't already learn from college stat/probability course but had some interesting stuff but better for someone that doesn't already know anything。 3 stars cause I would recommend this book but not for trading or if you already have a grasp of statistics。 。。。more
Chris
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I think this would work a lot better as a text book， where you work w/ some of the data he presents hands/on。 He does offer access to a bunch of ss online so that you can participate as you read along， however， not taking advantage of that had me not get as much into this book as might have otherwise。 Still， I enjoyed a lot of the research that has been done and the counter-traditional results that are out there。
Nick Black
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http://www。advancednflstats。com/2010/。。。http://sabermetricresearch。blogspot。c。。。 http://www。advancednflstats。com/2010/。。。http://sabermetricresearch。blogspot。c。。。 。。。more
Michael Ellsworth
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I found this while working in the library， did not completely read it but what i did i found pretty interesting。
Erik
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It was a super technical book essentially if you wanted to do your own statistical model with few observations。 There is some good history on different statistical models （Sagarin） but it was definitely like a textbook and not a lot of takeaway observations similar to Freakanomics。
Alpha
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Overall， pretty good。 A nice introduction to statistics in sports， this book did a fantastic job at keeping the content at an approachable level for a newcomer to the field。 I personally wasn't as interested in the process and was hoping for a more in-depth look at the field， but I'd highly recommend this book to someone who hasn't heard of Sabermetrics or Bill James or is interested in starting their own statistical analysis of sports data。3。5/5 Overall， pretty good。 A nice introduction to statistics in sports， this book did a fantastic job at keeping the content at an approachable level for a newcomer to the field。 I personally wasn't as interested in the process and was hoping for a more in-depth look at the field， but I'd highly recommend this book to someone who hasn't heard of Sabermetrics or Bill James or is interested in starting their own statistical analysis of sports data。3。5/5 。。。more
Richard
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