Moneyball

) What was the “Moneyball”approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion)
-They decided to stop looking for overpriced, superstar players and spend money on underpriced players who can get themselves on base. I think that they combined the art of knowing how the game of baseball works with the science of statistics. Their main statistic was OBP (On-Base Percentage).

2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
-OBP=(Walks+Hit by Pitch+Hits)/(At-Bats+Walks+Hit by Pitch+Sacrifice)

3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
-Design, according to Merriam-Webster, means to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan.

4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 –a) Billy Beane identifies the problem to his scouts to start off the meeting, b) Identify the problem.

2 – a) Billy decides to trade Jeremy Giambi away because he isn’t worth all the trouble he is causing off the field, b) Refine.

3 – a) Billy and Peter scouting the minor leagues and unwanted free agents to find cheap, good players, b) Research and Generate Ideas.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)

1 – Direction
2 - Alignment
3 - Commitment


6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 - Billy showed leadership when he taught Peter Brandt how to cut and interact with the players.

2 – Peter showed leadership when David Justice asked about Billy’s tendencies, and he gave honest answers and stayed loyal to Billy instead of just siding with David.

3 – David Justice showed leadership when he tried to talk to Chris Hatteberg in the clubhouse, although it wasn’t exactly successful.



7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? 68: 51

8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? 1.33: 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? 20 games won.

10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)
- It would take 447 seasons for a streak like that to naturally occur, assuming the initial conditions were the same before each game.

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
- I definitely think that there was something to the Moneyball approach. With a team full of superstars, each star’s skill set can interfere with another’s and they normally don’t click very well. Look at last season’s Miami Heat. However, all of these players were either has-beens or cheap minor-leaguers who had good attitudes about the game, making for good team chemistry and a fairly successful season.

12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team.
-He broke the “Moneyball” approach when he got rid of Jeremy Giambi. They knew before acquiring him that he would be a hassle off the field, but Billy thought he could deal with it. At a certain point though, he didn’t think he was worth it anymore.

Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?
-Michael Lewis wrote the book. He has also written Blindside: Evolution of a Game and Liar’s Poker. His books seem to all be themed around sports.

It's "Oscar Season", will Moneyball win the Oscar for any of the categories it's up for?
-No.

3.1.5

14. The light stayed on for five seconds.

15.




Conclusion:
1. If you make the commands "Plus 1" and "Minus 1", they will cancel each other out.

2. An engineer might need a variable counting mechanism because they might want to move a certain amount of an item to a certain place.

3.1.4 Branch Functions

1. It will continue through the zero node.

2.

3. The lamp will remain off.

6.

7-11.

Conclusion:

1. Branches are important to include because they allow the program to function correctly over several different actions that can be taken bythe user.

2. An everyday switch that is normally open is a light switch.

3. An everyday switch that is normally closed is a burglar alarm.

Activity 3.13: Basic Programming

1. The best way to make sure that you have succesful programmed the device, and made good connections is to test it, using the test button.

2. It is important to label block functions because you can then read what each step in the flowchart is, instead of trying to interpret the symbols.

Flowcharts

Click on images to enlarge

1. Flowcharting is similar to using a map on a road trip because there are often several routes or options that can be taken, and all will ultimately end up in the same place.

2. (Above)

Smartest Machine On Earth

What is "machine learning"?

-Machine learning describes the way that machines learn from repeated examples. If they see enough examples of a certain object (such as the letter "A"), it will pick up small patterns and learn to recognize things that it has never even seen before.

How did the IBM team use this? How was this advantageous?

-The IBM team dumped thousands of old, used Jeopardy questions, along with their answers, into Watson's database. They counted on the computer to use machine learning to find patterns between these questions and their correct answers, and help it answer future questions correctly. It could do this by combining the patterns that it had picked up from the questions with the huge wealth of encyclopedic knowledge that was programmed into its system. This was advantageous because the team did not have to try to input all of the common sense knowledge, and knowledge of puns and other strange wordings.

What is "Empirical Skepticism"? How does it relate to machine learning?

-Empirical skepticism is basically the reason why the human brain is still superior to the robot. Our brains can actually think, and don't run off of programmed data. Empirical skepticism is the idea that certain things have different meanings, and each particular meaning can only be deciphered by calling to mind a past experience or prior knowledge, and analyzing context.
This relates to machine learning because it is the way that IBM is trying to create their robot, by programming tons of prior knowledge, and artificial past experiences into it.

Engineering Ground Zero

Many trades are highlighted throughout this documentary. The ones that seemed to be focused on the most were steelworkers, architectural engineers, and concrete workers.

I was most interested in the architectural side of things. I think that I was most interested in that because its the part of the process that uses the most creativity. Most of the construction workers are simply following intstructions, but the architect had to come up with one (or several) designs for the building that were safe, efficient and appealing to the eye.