Areas of Science Pure Mathematics
Difficulty
Time Required Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites Basic knowledge of Microsoft Excel and statistics
Material Availability Readily Available
Cost Very Low (under $20)
*Note: For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.

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Abstract

What makes a winning team? Getting all the best players? Good coaches? Good chemistry? This project will show you how you can use math to help you test your hypothesis about what makes a winning team.

The Pythagorean relationship is a fundamental one in sports: it correctly predicts the records of 98% of all teams. But in 2% of cases, it fails. Why does it fail? Find teams that deviated substantially from their expected Pythagorean record (this information is available for baseball teams on www.baseball-reference.com. Then look at their situational statistics (this information is available on ESPN.com) and determine what they did that resulted in more or fewer wins than they otherwise should have had. Determine what the teams have in common.

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Credits

Gabriel Desjardins

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General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "What Makes a Team's Winning Percentage Deviate from the Pythagorean Relationship?" Science Buddies, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Math_p005/pure-mathematics/team-winning-percentage-pythagorean-theorem. Accessed 16 Apr. 2021.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2020, November 20). What Makes a Team's Winning Percentage Deviate from the Pythagorean Relationship? Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Math_p005/pure-mathematics/team-winning-percentage-pythagorean-theorem


Last edit date: 2020-11-20

Experimental Procedure

For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.

If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.

Share your story with Science Buddies!

I did this project Yes, I Did This Project! Please log in (or create a free account) to let us know how things went.

Ask an Expert

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