How are the odds calculated as 1 in 4,294,967,296?
Completely random is 1 / 2^63 (1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 or about ten million times worse). Granted, they're not completely random, but it seems like to get the odds they're saying you can take a LOT of the game outcomes for granted. I don't follow March Madness that closely, so maybe that's the case? Just seems odd for a tournament to have so many nearly guaranteed outcomes.
The article decided the odds were: 32 teams, each with a 50% chance of winning, so the odds must be 1 in 2^32!
It's obviously wrong, of course, but journalists aren't typically known for their statistical math backgrounds. Interestingly, this article claims you can actually get the odds even lower, to about 1 in 1 billion: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buffett-basketball-bet... using some more sophisticated team/player data.
The journalist also ignored reality when calculating taxes owed too. They used the $1 billion up front but they reported it'd be $25 million per year for 40 years (or one time payout of $500 million).
Comments
How are the odds calculated as 1 in 4,294,967,296?
Completely random is 1 / 2^63 (1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 or about ten million times worse). Granted, they're not completely random, but it seems like to get the odds they're saying you can take a LOT of the game outcomes for granted. I don't follow March Madness that closely, so maybe that's the case? Just seems odd for a tournament to have so many nearly guaranteed outcomes.
The article decided the odds were: 32 teams, each with a 50% chance of winning, so the odds must be 1 in 2^32!
It's obviously wrong, of course, but journalists aren't typically known for their statistical math backgrounds. Interestingly, this article claims you can actually get the odds even lower, to about 1 in 1 billion: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buffett-basketball-bet... using some more sophisticated team/player data.
The journalist also ignored reality when calculating taxes owed too. They used the $1 billion up front but they reported it'd be $25 million per year for 40 years (or one time payout of $500 million).