Chance News May-June 2005
Forsooth
As the stakes increase, Prime-Number theory Moves Closer to Proof
Wall Street Journal, Science Journal, April 8. 2005, B1
Sharon Begley
Follow the points to find a Super Bowl champ
New York Times, 223 January, 2005, p 11
Aaron Schatz
The explanation rests in a mathematical formula created by the baseball analyst Bill James and introduced in the 1980 Baseball Abstract. James determined that the record of a baseball team could be approximated by taking the square of team runs scored and dividing it by the square of team runs scored plus the square of team runs allowed. Because of its similarity to the geometric method for determining the sum of the angles in a right triangle, he called it the Pythagorean theorem.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
How close is the Pythagorean theorem to the theorem that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees?
P.S. Norton Star provided this picture observed by a student Tosin while walking in New York. Evidently New Yorkers are determined to not forget the quadradic formula!
