Search found 201 matches

by Fond du lac operon
Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:27 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Mons Mathstrosity II: Even Primes Redux [Announcement]
Replies: 29
Views: 12668

Re: Mons Mathstrosity II: Even Primes Redux [Announcement]

I was hoping that Neelav would post this himself, but he had to step down from editing duties for this tournament. An MSNCT mirror is pretty unlikely and we'd run at most a scaled-down version at HSNCT or NSC; expect an update soon.
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Mons Mathstrosity II: Even Primes Redux [Announcement]
Replies: 29
Views: 12668

Re: Mons Mathstrosity II: Even Primes Redux [Announcement]

I see Neelav's already edited the announcement, but I'd like to say I'm excited to be joining the editing team for this tournament. I had a ton of fun playing the predecessor event and hope that we can provide an equally fun experience while learning from some of the mistakes and smoothing over the ...
by Fond du lac operon
Sat Dec 02, 2017 12:10 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Math Monstrosity - General Discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 10697

Re: Math Monstrosity - General Discussion

I'd love to help write some of the algebra and maybe some CS-leaning stuff for this.
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 13
Views: 4649

Re: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion

Of course that should have read "Don't have a clue in one saying 'It's not [the other]'"... Packet 7 2. This is a cool tossup, although IMO it would have been even cooler if it were entirely group theory clues (ending, I guess, with "the order of the fourth symmetric group"). 6. ...
by Fond du lac operon
Fri Jun 02, 2017 1:05 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 13
Views: 4649

Re: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion

Packet 4 4. The Cauchy-Riemann TU is really fraudable from the first clue -- I wonder what set of equations satisfied by a complex function this could be? :thinky face emoji: 5. Why a finance clue on basis points in the middle of a perfectly good math tossup? Also, the Grobner basis clue is not int...
by Fond du lac operon
Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 13
Views: 4649

Re: Math Monstrosity - Specific Question Discussion

Some comments, attempting to keep them mostly disjoint from Jake's: Packet 1 1. One issue with comp math tossups is a lot depends on the speed of the reader. I was playing in a room with someone who was slowed down by the TeX, so I managed to 15 this by integrating 1/(x^2) from 1 to 2 before we hit ...
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:01 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Lederberg 2 Discussion
Replies: 33
Views: 12453

Re: Lederberg 2 Discussion

Thanks to Eric for allowing me to write for this, and special thanks for being so understanding when I had to back out of half my commitment when real life intervened. My questions that made it into the set were on: numerical integration, a math common link on "smooth", the heat equation (...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Lederberg 2: Daughter Cell (3/29/14)
Replies: 155
Views: 91442

Re: Lederberg 2: Daughter Cell (11/23 or 24)

Cheynem wrote:I, of course, am writing all the math.
Whereas I am handling the chemistry, astro, and the obligatory 1 hip-hop-related question per packet.
by Fond du lac operon
Wed May 01, 2013 11:26 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Postseason Poll
Replies: 32
Views: 15881

Re: Postseason Poll

Class ended early today, so here is every team that played DI ICT or ACF Nationals ordered by an average of their finishes. Perhaps not even a good metric, but it is a thing. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjqwxsVT2x-GdGJqZHV3dzNjVk9fZFNPNVVCQUtFbkE#gid=0 I think this is a decent star...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:17 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion
Replies: 129
Views: 36408

Re: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion

So as promised, here's my nitpicky complaint about one philosophy tossup. The tossup on "virtue ethics" (and I very much enjoyed the fact that it existed) begins: In a 1976 [paper], Michael Stocker condemned competing approaches to this theory as “schizophrenic” for failing to examine “mot...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion
Replies: 129
Views: 36408

Re: ACF Nationals 2013 Discussion

The philosophy I feel competent to comment on (i.e. analytic) I really liked. In particular I thought that there were fewer tossups that were "name this person/book given some hard clues and then some quizbowl-famous clues" and more that were "name this important concept," which ...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Apr 24, 2013 2:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: A Different Way to Quantify Buzzing
Replies: 22
Views: 6715

Re: A Different Way to Quantify Buzzing

So, is this measure reasonably robust when you consider different populations? I'm not sure how to phrase exactly what I mean, so here's an example: Let's suppose that, somehow, Penn and UVA were invited to play the CCCT field on DI ICT questions. Since Matt and Eric are two of the three best player...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:17 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: A Different Way to Quantify Buzzing
Replies: 22
Views: 6715

Re: A Different Way to Quantify Buzzing

Michigan A is shockingly low, probably because their PPB is listed as under 12. (I'm assuming this is an input error, though). Other than that, it seems to pretty closely track actual performance, and seems solid.
by Fond du lac operon
Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Nationals Predictions
Replies: 25
Views: 14822

Re: ACF Nationals Predictions

37. Hunter College: Hunter's team claims that "it's an honor just to be recognized" and "we're here to have fun." They do, when a spontaneous Matt Weiner roast breaks out during round 7. 36. Rutgers: In a stunning coup, Rutgers hires Jonathan Magin as its new athletic director. H...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:36 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT Predictions
Replies: 54
Views: 26377

Re: ICT Predictions

I'm far too lazy for that, but I would like someone to write a lit question on "copulating wasps."
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ICT Predictions
Replies: 54
Views: 26377

Re: ICT Predictions

14. Ohio State. Jacob Durst's plans to write a sonnet entitled "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," commemorating Aroldis Chapman's first big-league round-tripper, are thwarted when the Reds keep Chapman in the bullpen, robbing him of at bats. C'mon, bro (or sis). You stole that bit f...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183389

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

[Alman] denies the charge, saying in an email, “When I competed in tournaments, I was hearing the questions for the very first time."
Technically true, most likely! Good save, Alman.
by Fond du lac operon
Thu Apr 04, 2013 4:03 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2013 (7/20-21/13)
Replies: 147
Views: 83743

Re: Chicago Open 2013 (7/20-21/13)

I suck at chemistry (and to a lesser extent at all non-math and non-CS science) and have zero editing experience, but other than those small issues I feel as though I'm qualified to edit CO science! But seriously, as long as I don't have to figure out what the hell is going on with tossups on obscur...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183389

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

Hang up and Listen, one of my favorite podcasts, covered it briefly (and quite well, actually).
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: On the proper method to stop negging so much
Replies: 16
Views: 8633

Re: On the proper method to stop negging so much

One thing that definitely helped me in this respect was writing down the prompt as the question is being read. If the phrase "this author" appears right off the bat, write down "author," or whatever. Then I have my mind fixed on what the question is actually looking for, so when...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183389

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

Despite all that, if you want to add statistical likelihood to the already-pretty-conclusive evidence, I would look at his lack of negs at those two tournaments rather than just his year-to-year ICT improvement. The evidence of cheating is pretty slim but those numbers are more unlikely than his un...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total
Replies: 112
Views: 183389

Re: Watkins-gate news media link collection - 19 Total

I'd encourage everyone to stop going down the rabbit hole of believing that you can "prove" cheating by using statistics to uncover the shocking mathematical postulate that sometimes people get better at quizbowl. My goal in the Watkins case isn't so much to "prove" that he chea...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:35 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

For kicks and grins, here's another spreadsheet listing Josh Alman's cohort and their performances at D2 ICT 2011 and DI ICT 2012. A couple of players (most prominently Doug Graebner*) actually did step up their games between the two tournaments, but Josh's performance is ludicrous. Hilariously, if ...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 25, 2013 10:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

Okay, so I implemented a very stripped-down, crappy version of Jerry's idea. I looked at the top 50 scorers at ICT 2010 (Division I)*, went through and found the ones who played DI ICT '09, and looked at the percentage of questions each player powered at the two consecutive ICTs**. Then I computed t...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

Jerry, I think the particularly damning thing re: Andy Watkins is less that he suddenly got really good for ICT and more that he then became only pretty good at ACF Nationals a few weeks later. (You certainly know more quizbowl history than I do, but I'd be surprised if no one has made a pretty big...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

[NERD TIME] You can do a proper Bayesian analysis if you have a long enough history on a player. What you want to know is, given a player's history, what is the probability that they will score X PPG in any given tournament. For long-time players like Andy, we have enough information to do this kin...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT security review: three more cases
Replies: 61
Views: 23354

Re: NAQT security review: three more cases

My hypothesis is that somebody in the quizbowl community, acting solely for themselves and not for an organization like NAQT, could do a statistical analysis of Andy's numbers and show quite convincingly that its highly probable that his good performance at those three tournaments was not a coincid...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA?!
Replies: 7
Views: 1959

Re: GUERRILLA?!

This action has been performed far too often by Harrison Brown in violation of Brannigan's Law --

*buzz*

_double posting_
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA?!
Replies: 7
Views: 1959

Re: GUERRILLA?!

I will say that I am also in favor of wacky theme packets. (Or, you know, at least wacky questions.)
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GUERRILLA?!
Replies: 7
Views: 1959

GUERRILLA?!

Are we planning on doing a guerrilla tournament pre- or post-ICT this year? It's only a few weeks off at this point, and I'd like for people to have time to get teams together and throw together packets. (In between studying for nationals tournaments, writing? for Terrapin?!, and also non-quizbowl s...
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Who's Doing CO?
Replies: 15
Views: 19895

Re: Who's Doing CO?

I am interested in freelancing some science questions and probably also some non-science questions.
by Fond du lac operon
Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Tournament Discussion
Replies: 70
Views: 19851

Re: Tournament Discussion

I would also like to thank the editor of the math questions for writing properly structured math tossups with clues that we learn in class - I felt this was the most solid set of math tossups in quite some time. As the guy who keeps saying "people should write better math tossups" (which ...
by Fond du lac operon
Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Western Invitational Tournament (WIT) Discussion
Replies: 6
Views: 2260

Re: Western Invitational Tournament (WIT) Discussion

So, um, is this private forum active at all? Because I requested to join it on like Monday and still haven't.
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition
Replies: 42
Views: 15054

Re: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition

I'm kind of surprised there were only 11 teams that appeared on every ballot. While I guess I can see someone not voting for Chicago B because they're a B team (and I'm not sure they've played their likeliest nationals lineup yet), I thought MIT, NYU, Ohio State, ourselves, and probably Alberta woul...
by Fond du lac operon
Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:41 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition
Replies: 42
Views: 15054

Re: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition

Out of curiosity (and a rather silly desire to see this as close to the AP sports polls as possible), how many first-place votes were there for UVA and Yale? (And why did nobody end up voting Penn in first? Poor Penn...)
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:41 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198100

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

Two from Saturday (so I'm going to stop typing here)

Edit by staff: Don't talk about questions that are still being used for any constructive purpose.
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:28 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2013 Literature and Arts Discussion
Replies: 12
Views: 3101

Re: ACF Regionals 2013 Literature and Arts Discussion

Debussy was certainly the pioneer in the way he used pentatonic and whole-tone scales, but it's not a very safe thing to buzz on just those words, because very many composers after him were influenced by this and imitated this. Admittedly, the piece I clued is his most famous / remarked-upon use of...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:06 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2013 Literature and Arts Discussion
Replies: 12
Views: 3101

Re: ACF Regionals 2013 Literature and Arts Discussion

There was a Schenker bonus and I didn't hear it?! Laaaame. (I don't even know that much about Schenkerian analysis, I just think it'd be cool to see it pop up in quizbowl a tiny bit more.) Anyway, I'll say that I thought the early clue in the Debussy tossup about him using the pentatonic scale and a...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:45 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2013 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 61
Views: 16333

Re: ACF Regionals 2013 Specific Question Discussion

First of all, can we award a medal of some sort to whoever wrote the tossup on "people who have dated Taylor Swift?" Because that was awesome. I'm earnestly actually really confused why people disliked the Mao's wives question so much. Does anyone have a better reason than "I couldn't...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:12 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Regionals 2013 General Discussion
Replies: 56
Views: 16173

Re: ACF Regionals 2013 General Discussion

I was a bit disappointed with the construction of many bonuses in this set. In some cases, the barrier to getting 10 points on a bonus was needlessly high when a better easy part could have been used instead. You and I might easily be able to get bonus parts on the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, N...
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition
Replies: 42
Views: 15054

Re: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition

Regionals 2013's missing bonus 20s made me triple-post.
by Fond du lac operon
Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition
Replies: 42
Views: 15054

Re: Collegiate Poll: Late Midseason Edition

For some reason my computer doesn't want to connect to the Google Doc right now, but last I checked, there were only about 26 teams listed in the summary section. There are a few that I think have legitimate top-25 cases that weren't listed; most notably, some of the stronger B teams (like Chicago's...
by Fond du lac operon
Thu Feb 14, 2013 1:47 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT writer feedback thread
Replies: 34
Views: 7937

Re: NAQT writer feedback thread

Fred wrote:Three Dog Night/Chess/U2
I'll bite; what was the common thread here? I can't think of what it could possibly be for either chess the game or Chess the musical.
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Region 5 SCT - Feb. 9 at UT - Knoxville
Replies: 66
Views: 20930

Re: Region 5 SCT - Feb. 9 at UT - Knoxville

The D-value being used for the teams from this site is taking both DI and DII into account under the place of finish (it's out of 28 teams instead of 7 or 21). I'm not sure how the D-value is calculated, so I have no idea if this is affecting it, but it's something I noticed that doesn't happen wit...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Let's Talk About Science History
Replies: 44
Views: 11335

Re: Let's Talk About Science History

Is there a way of integrating science history into its appropriate subjects? I do agree science history should have a place somewhere, but is it possible to have such clues and answers in tossups and bonuses while keeping everything to what is studied academically? I'm not saying that this should b...
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Western Invitational Tournament at WKU (March 3, 2013)
Replies: 13
Views: 5320

Re: Western Invitational Tournament at WKU (March 3, 2013)

Church51907 wrote:Have there been any field updates?
Matt Church
U of L
Alabama's very likely to come, assuming the packet writing doesn't completely fall through.
by Fond du lac operon
Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:35 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198100

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

I can't say much about this since the set's not clear, but I 30ed a history bonus on Saturday because I lost a library book in Boston once. (Losing a library book in Boston tends to make that book and what it's about unusually memorable.) I should probably get and lose a copy of The Critique of Pur...
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:06 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Odd Ways of Learning Things
Replies: 177
Views: 198100

Re: Odd Ways of Learning Things

I can't say much about this since the set's not clear, but I 30ed a history bonus on Saturday because I lost a library book in Boston once. (Losing a library book in Boston tends to make that book and what it's about unusually memorable.)
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:02 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: DI specific question discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 9135

Re: DI specific question discussion

For what it's worth (i.e. not much), I happen to own A Distant Mirror (after leaving a library copy outside Boston-Logan, which makes it even more memorable), so someone got that hard part at least.
by Fond du lac operon
Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: DI specific question discussion
Replies: 40
Views: 9135

Re: DI specific question discussion

Tossing up Kronecker at SCT was probably not the best idea. He's not a terribly notable mathematician - I mean he has some results, but more often than not the only thing people are going to know about him is that he names a symbol and maybe the Kronecker product of matrices In general, I worry tha...