think the MM or PB has bad odds?

Reply #16

pumpi76 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:37:28 GMT

i don't know anything about NCAA nor do i know what NCAA stands for but i think it stands for college basketball....I don't even know what a bracket is....

But my question is, do they let you pick more than one choice? How are they going to offer it to people when Sport Gambling becomes a reality in the USA...

They should offer 100 million dollars to whoever gets a perfect bracket or whatever....

But what i am thinking is it couldn't be too too hard because is a no or yes option of each... [ More ]

Reply #15

edge — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:09:26 GMT

That's more than nine quintillion possibilities. - where do I sign up:) lol

Reply #14

RJOh — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:44:38 GMT

The following was in THE MATH FORUM - ASK DR.MATH

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/56223.html

From: Doctor Paul

Subject: Re: NCAA tournament possibilities

First notice that the 64 teams play 63 total games: 32 games in the

first round, 16 in the second round, 8 in the 3rd round, 4 in the

regional finals, 2 in the final four, and then the national

championship game.

32+16+8+4+2+1= 63

Now let's answer an easier question.

If there were four teams, and they play... [ More ]

Reply #13

Todd — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:26:03 GMT

Reply #12

Stack47 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:00:52 GMT

While there are 32 possible winning times, there are still 64 different outcomes in the first round and each must be used with all the other outcomes. So shouldn't it be something like (64 * 63) times (32 * 31) times (16 * 15) times (8 * 7) times (4 * 3) times 2

Reply #11

johnph77 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:31:55 GMT

Correct. JONNIE's original post omitted the play-in game between the 64 and 65 seeds. That effectively doubles the number of possible outcomes in his original post.

gl

j

Reply #10

RJOh — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:11:41 GMT

According to the Los Angeles Times:Sports

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/03/bracket-busted.html

There are 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 possible ways of filling out a 65-team bracket. That's 18.4 quintillion ... a number so large that even insurance companies weren't audacious enough to use it in their bailout requests.

Reply #9

RJOh — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:39:12 GMT

I did at:

http://www.printyourbrackets.com/marchmadness.html

My calculations show 32+16+8+4+2+1=63 games being played.

Reply #8

JONNIE — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:18:54 GMT

Rjoh-

There are a total of 63 games played, each with a 50% chance outcome. Trust me, look it up online. The actual number is 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 or in in over 9 quintillion

Reply #7

RJOh — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:13:31 GMT

That alone means that 64! (forget the statistical talk 64)

When you're talking about odds, statistical talk matters.

If you start out with 64 teams, you will have 32 possible outcomes

2nd round...... 32 teams will have 16 possible outcomes

3rd round.......16 teams will have 8 possible outcomes

4th round.......8 teams will have 4 possible outcomes

5th round.......4 teams will have 2 possible outcomes

6th and final round..2 teams will have 1 possible outcomes

Possible outco... [ More ]

Reply #6

JONNIE — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:49:22 GMT

Its never happened (a perfect bracket) and it NEVER will. Thats why they offer huge amounts of $$$$ to those who can actually do it. Ive heard $10 M dollars to anyone who can fill out a perfect bracket which is really weak at best. At these odds, it should pay out $100B to anyone who can do it

Reply #5

JONNIE — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:43:23 GMT

There ae no sports bettors in here? In a college ball tounrament, there are 64 tams that compete in single elimination. That alone means that 64! (forget the statistical talk 64) If u take 0.5 times 0.5 by 63 times, you get about 1 in 2 to the power of 63, or one in 9 million trillion!!!!!! Assuming you pick favorites with no upsets it is still one in 124 billion to get a perfect bracket. All favorites with no upsets, assuming the favorite wins 72%of the time is still nearly one in a billion

Reply #4

RJOh — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:34:40 GMT

You are saying there are 9 million trillions possible out comes which is hard for the average person with little or no math skills to believe. How did you figure those odds

Reply #3

diamondpalace — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:55:19 GMT

What is a bracket and how is it so high in odds

Reply #2

JONNIE — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:43:23 GMT

yes sir. And that is assuming that every team in the tourney has a fair chance of winning (i.e. uconn or pitt, etc. dont lose to the huge dogs) Even if every favorite won (assuming no upsets) the probbility is 72% that favorites would win every game, still netting you a 1 in 970 Million odds of a perfect bracket. Dont give up folks, the lottery looks like a coin flip compared to these odds

Reply #1

The Hitman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:35:28 GMT

wow is that really so

think the MM or PB has bad odds?

JONNIE — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:25:02 GMT

Try filling out a college bball bracket. I have one loss already (Cal). Odds of getting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9 million trillion!!! You are 60 billion times more likely to win the powerball (at current 1 in about 195 million).