Search found 202 matches

by dschafer
Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAQT card-basd power-matching system
Replies: 17
Views: 3417

Re: NAQT card-basd power-matching system

Yeah, having the number of teams be a multiple of a large power of two is rather helpful for these schedules to work out nicely.
by dschafer
Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAQT card-basd power-matching system
Replies: 17
Views: 3417

Re: NAQT card-basd power-matching system

How do people who have designed card-swap systems deal with rounds after the W-L records stop being completely determined? As an example, in a 6-team tournament, there will be three 1-0 teams and three 0-1 teams after the first round. In the second round, some 1-0 team has to play a 0-1 team, but wh...
by dschafer
Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:43 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAQT card-basd power-matching system
Replies: 17
Views: 3417

Re: NAQT card-basd power-matching system

Effectively, the first log_2(n) rounds are just a straight, pre-planned Swiss pair; for an algorithm, recursively do a n/2 team, r-1 round Swiss pair on the odds and evens, then play 1v2, 3v4 in the round that you add; this has the added benefit of maintaining effective standing order in the cards a...
by dschafer
Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 07-08 Midseason Poll
Replies: 57
Views: 58475

Re: 07-08 Midseason Poll

I think you're vastly underestimating Tagalong's performance. Granted, no one part of the Tagalong team quite matches up to that of caramel for Samoa A, but when one considers the combined accomplishments of chocolate, peanut butter and cookie for Tagalong, I believe one would be hard pressed to de...
by dschafer
Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 07-08 Midseason Poll
Replies: 57
Views: 58475

Re: 07-08 Midseason Poll

Unofficial Results: 1. Bryce Avery 2. Girl Scouts Tagalongs 3. Brice Avery 4. Pat Freeburn 5. You (imagine this thread has a quasi-reflective square of paper on the front of it, with inane articles inside) Look for further results in the next 48 hours. Anyone who ranked Tagalongs above Samoas clear...
by dschafer
Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Private Sectionals Discussion Forum Signup and Access
Replies: 94
Views: 17769

dschafer
by dschafer
Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:06 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 Housh Classic (01/12/08) at TJHSST (Alexandria, VA)
Replies: 105
Views: 43573

TJ has had a 1/1 sports per tournament distribution for years. Apparently I somehow managed to impress the importance of this policy on my successors. They said that the sports questions were written... just that they might have been a bit too crazy writing the sports questions. Of course they may ...
by dschafer
Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:22 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 Housh Classic (01/12/08) at TJHSST (Alexandria, VA)
Replies: 105
Views: 43573

Is there any chance that the spreadsheet used for the card system could be posted? I am very interested to see how the pairings worked, especially in the later rounds. Yes there is. During the fiasco of teams dropping out at the last minute, I also have a card system set up for 42, 44, and 48 teams...
by dschafer
Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 Housh Classic (01/12/08) at TJHSST (Alexandria, VA)
Replies: 105
Views: 43573

Is there any chance that the spreadsheet used for the card system could be posted? I am very interested to see how the pairings worked, especially in the later rounds.
by dschafer
Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:29 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidal Math Tossups
Replies: 7
Views: 4880

While the quadratic example seems ugly, you are told that there is only one solution, so a really good math player will know that it is a perfect square trinomial. This can help you solve the problem quickly in a few different ways. The one root will be x=-b/2a, or you can divide everything by 2 an...
by dschafer
Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidal Math Tossups
Replies: 7
Views: 4880

I really like the style of these questions; the idea of putting lots of pyramidally ordered small computation problems has a lot of promise for making pyramidal computational math both easier to write and more accessable to the average player. I fear, however, that having the early clues be too diff...
by dschafer
Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Mid-Atlantic ACF Fall at VCU: 11/3/07
Replies: 20
Views: 9046

Thanks to Matt and VCU for a fantastic tournament. Everything ran smoothly, the readers were excellent, and the ending time was quite reasonable, especially considering we got 13 full rounds of play.
by dschafer
Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:36 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 Housh Classic (01/12/08) at TJHSST (Alexandria, VA)
Replies: 105
Views: 43573

Hey, I might just have to come and moderate for the tournament name (I assume this means we're past the Lederer/Silberman days when 1/1 trash did not include sports) I also want to see this card system at work at a non-HSNCT tourney...schafer you should come to...you'd appreciate the math... :grin:...
by dschafer
Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: TJIAT 07 (10/13/07) at Thomas Jefferson HS
Replies: 67
Views: 26564

Time was not the thing preventing 10 rounds. Logistics, as in available moderators, was the problem. Even so, the card system would have a lot of advantages. That seems surprising. At least on paper, TJ's team had more than enough members to moderate and scorekeep rounds for 48 teams. Especially si...
by dschafer
Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:33 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT Discussion
Replies: 92
Views: 32242

First off, I want to preface these comments with the overall qualifier that this was a fantastic set of questions. While I do have what I hope is constructive feedback, it is mostly on very minor matters that did not significantly affect my great enjoyment of the tournament. Writers/Editors: Thanks....
by dschafer
Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: W&M EFT: Hieronymous BOSCH Appreciation Day (10/6/2007)
Replies: 48
Views: 20766

My only real complaint is that I just now I got home I'll echo that (at 5:30 on Sunday), though in all fairness, I don't really think our flat tire was the tournament's fault... Overall, the tournament was run quite nicely; a 1.5 page schedule with no less than 7 tables was a little hard to figure ...
by dschafer
Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:26 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Governor's School Academic Competition (GSAC) XV: December 8
Replies: 37
Views: 28294

Re: Governor's School Academic Competition (GSAC) XV: Decemb

National tournament qualification : Pending affiliation, the top 4 teams will receive bids to the 11th Annual National Scholastics Championship (NSC), hosted by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE). what about NAQT? I suspect wowitsquinthaha is wondering if there will be quali...
by dschafer
Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Titanomachy Maryland Mirror Date Poll
Replies: 3
Views: 2482

The Sunday date is better for me personally; the VA Tech Math Competition is the 27th. I can check and see what would work for most of CMU.
by dschafer
Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Trash distribution discussion
Replies: 76
Views: 32507

DeisEvan wrote:I hereby announce the Jerry Vinokurov Memorial Trash Tournament.

Packet breakdown will be:

13/13 Video Games
13/13 Soccer
How do I register?
by dschafer
Sun Aug 26, 2007 5:10 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Favorite Intentional Neg
Replies: 29
Views: 10952

As a member of the other team in the game referenced by Wall of Shawarma , I'd like to state up front that nobody on my team would have gotten the tossup, even from the giveaway, so this particular stall ended up being utterly irrelevant. I'd then like to note that this particular stalling buzz was ...
by dschafer
Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:14 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: DC/Metro Area 2007-08
Replies: 164
Views: 52895

Coming soon to DACQ sets: computation questions about priming the buzzer. I really have no choice, do I: TOSSUP Pencil and paper ready. During a warm-up match for Panasonic, Chris, practicing his buzzer priming, will accidentally buzz early on 25% of the questions in a 20-question round, though on ...
by dschafer
Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Computational math in high school quizbowl
Replies: 73
Views: 81886

Necessary preface to every post I make in a math related topic: I like math. I think a key point here is what kind of math we are talking about. There is non-pyramidal math, certainly: "What is 123*456?" is a short, non-pyramidal question, just as "Who wrote Hamlet?" is a short, ...
by dschafer
Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: QBML: wouldn't it be nice?
Replies: 37
Views: 20928

Well, if people can be made to format things correctly in Word, you could probably get them to do something similar in Notepad, with underscores instead of underlining, etc. It makes for a much easier parse. In fact, we did this for the 2007 JIAT, with no XML intermediary; just went from text files...
by dschafer
Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chris McCray Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 11916

Okay, I didn't realize that the Heysel disaster was that well known; it probably should have been moved later then. I used the 2007 Champions League as the giveaway simply because of the proximity of the tournament to the game (within a few months); if not for that factor, the 2005 Champions League ...
by dschafer
Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chris McCray Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 11916

The one other thing that bothers me is that the Liverpool tossup from round 1 is insultingly easy to anyone who knows minimal amounts about soccer. Which clues are you referencing? As the author of said Liverpool tossup, I thought it was fairly pyramidal, but I don't really have a solid feel as to ...
by dschafer
Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:59 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2008 PACE NSC (yes, I said 2008)
Replies: 29
Views: 11581

Yeah I'll try to volunteer for PACE next year, so for those purposes May 31-June 1 would be a lot better for me (sounds like that's easier for TJ too). Isn't ARML going to be a conflict? AFAIK, It always has been hosted on the first weekend in June (i.e. it might be May 31-June 1)... However, i don...
by dschafer
Sun May 27, 2007 4:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: Maggie Walker wins 2007 HSNCT!
Replies: 138
Views: 52028

Call me picky but I'm curious... if this is setup as a double-elimination tournament (which it looks like it is), why have a 3rd place game? In double-elims 3rd place is already determined... Though I do not know for sure, I believe that the third place game is necessary because of the cross-bracke...
by dschafer
Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: WJIAT (3/24) @ Walter Johnson HS (Bethesda,MD)
Replies: 36
Views: 13584

DumbJaques wrote:... at least also include your real name so someone looking at the stats will have some semblance of an idea what's going on.
Doesn't that defeat one of the main points of using pseudonyms, which is to remove the possibility of intra-team competitiveness?
by dschafer
Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: National Poll Time
Replies: 20
Views: 10776

I know Shady Side did not attend CMU's NAQT tournament this spring.

(EDIT: spelling)
by dschafer
Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: MITBAT III (3-3-07) @ MIT (Cambridge, MA)
Replies: 14
Views: 6605

The program used at the GSAC, as I recall, paired 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, etc. within each group. The JIAT ranks the teams mostly by random for the first round, then re-ranks within each group by PPG. After that re-ranking, 1 plays n/2, 2 plays n/2 + 1, etc, with rearrangements made if necessary to avoid ...
by dschafer
Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Deciding on team standings
Replies: 11
Views: 5037

I would agree with PPG, except that for timed tournaments, I would prefer PP20TUH (or PPTUH, which is equivalent). I think that using PPBH favors the bonus aspect of quiz bowl too strongly over the tossup aspect, whereas PPTUH takes into account both. I also think that for a something like the ICT b...
by dschafer
Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:18 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: VHSL Regional/District Tournaments (Jan-Feb 2007)
Replies: 65
Views: 24112

THIS IS A COMPUTATION QUESTION. You are trying to find the area of a triangle with sides of length 4, 8, and 10. This seems impossible, but with Heron's formula becomes much easier. Calculate the semiperimeter, s, by adding the lengths of the sides and dividing by two. Then, multiply s, s minus a, ...
by dschafer
Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:22 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: RESULTS: VHSL Regional/District Tournaments (Jan-Feb 2007)
Replies: 65
Views: 24112

I haven't seen VHSL questions this year, so I am speaking in the abstract here: Can someone associated with TJ (and Gov if at all possible) send me some examples of their pyramidal math tossups? I liked the one dschafer posted in some other thread, the one that was used this season and essentially r...
by dschafer
Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Format of science questions
Replies: 58
Views: 26754

Also, lest we forget, computational questions remove one of the pillars of pyramidality -the fact that in depth knowledge should be rewarded. It simply doesn't happen in most computational questions, because it usually ends up rewarding whoever has the best mind for numbers, and quizbowl is not the...
by dschafer
Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GRUDGE MATCH II: Ghost Ride the Grudge Match
Replies: 109
Views: 36513

The NHL ALL-STAR GAME is the surprise winner, with the winning goal from Alex Ovechkin (shorthanded, 19:03 in the 3rd).

Next matchup:

VALENTINE'S DAY CANDY HEARTS

vs.

HALLOWEEN CANDY CORN
by dschafer
Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:04 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

Thanks to Dr. Chuck and GMU for hosting and running the tournament; it ran very smoothly, and I thought 13 rounds was pretty much the perfect amount. taft also seems to have worked out excellently; on the "possible bug" front, what is the standard for "Margin": PPG minus PAPG, or...
by dschafer
Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

From what Evan said when I talked to him over IM, I think class status for undergrads would also be helpful.
by dschafer
Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:08 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Teams In The Country '06-07?
Replies: 105
Views: 47812

The only potential issue with such a poll would be the regional nature of high school quiz bowl; I'm not sure how easy it is to rate teams that one hasn't seen. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see how the poll results turned out as compared to the results at the various national tourna...
by dschafer
Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

Matt Morrison wrote:I was going to go with Top Gun characters, but then some TJ kids would probably send death threats.
Seeing as how Princeton and UNC are both coming, you might have two of that particular team there. With that in mind, I actually think it'd be rather funny if you did it.
by dschafer
Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

Just to confirm, Carnegie Mellon will not be bringing the additional Div. I team I mentioned as a possibility in my original post.
by dschafer
Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:47 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

Carnegie Mellon meets on Monday evening, so if we do end up having that potential Div. I team, I should be able to post it that evening.
by dschafer
Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:07 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Results: NAQT Mid-Atlantic at George Mason (2/10/07)
Replies: 118
Views: 50658

Carnegie Mellon will be bringing a Div. II team, two buzzers and a clock. There is a possibility we will have a Div. I team as well; I'll post again if that is the case.

[ETC: ok]
by dschafer
Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:42 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: DC/Metro area 2006-07
Replies: 111
Views: 47158

jbarnes112358 : Based on my experiences with stats last year, the neccessary files are on a school computer, so with the three-day weekend, it might be difficult to access them today. As the moderator for that Gonzaga-Gov A game, I must say that it was one of the finest matches I've ever seen. Both...
by dschafer
Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Last Great Auk
Replies: 11
Views: 5573

BuzzerZen wrote:hsquizbowl: mauking the auk since 1904
Pronounced "Nineteen-AUK-four," I assume.
by dschafer
Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: The Last Great Auk
Replies: 11
Views: 5573

Well, this is AUKward.
by dschafer
Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Election 2006 Pick 'em
Replies: 36
Views: 12904

How many of the House races are still pending? Do we have enough data to determine the results of the fantasy challenge?
by dschafer
Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:40 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Election 2006 Pick 'em
Replies: 36
Views: 12904

Predictions:

House: Dems 226, GOP 209
Senate: GOP 49, Dems 49, Other 2
Governor: Dems 29, GOP 20, Austria 1

VA: Webb by 1%
DC: Fenty by 81%
SD: Fail by 3%
by dschafer
Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBStatGen Program
Replies: 9
Views: 4147

Oops... sorry about that. RC2 is now available for download on the QBStatGen site: http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dschafer/QBStatGen/
by dschafer
Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:41 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBStatGen Program
Replies: 9
Views: 4147

E.T. Chuck : Given that SQBS supports Bouncebacks, I should be able to add support for them to the next verison of QBStatGen. The script for QBStatGen actually takes the tournament results file rather than the HTML output; I'm on a Mac right now, so I won't be able to create a tournament file which...
by dschafer
Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:48 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBStatGen Program
Replies: 9
Views: 4147

E.T. Chuck:
Does SQBS support bouncebacks? I've never used it for bouncebacks before, as both of TJ's tournaments don't have them. If it does support them, would you happen to have a sample tournament file with bouncebacks that you could send me? I can try and work that into the next version.