On October 2, 2017, I presented a talk to faculty and senior math majors at Sacred Heart University. The title of my talk was “Undergraduate College Students Can Do Original Math Research.” The senior math majors were from their Senior Seminar Course where each student, as a final requirement, must write a paper on a research topic. Even though their research requirement does not require original research, some of them were actually doing original research.
Using the topic of Linear Regression, taught in every first year statistics course, I showed the students how I developed a formula to predict a team’s winning percentage in the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL. The formula for the MLB is Winning Percentage = .000673*(Runs Scored – Runs Allowed) +.50. My formula appeared in “The Baseball Research Journal”, in the book “Math and Sports”, and on the website “Baseball-Reference.com.” At the end of my talk, the students asked very interesting questions about my research. One student asked me a question about something she found interesting in my talk. I answered her question by saying your question can lead you to do your own research.
After my talk, my wife Tara and I had dinner with the professor teaching the seminar course and three of her students. Driving home from Sacred Heart I remarked to Tara how much I enjoyed meeting the faculty and students at Sacred Heart.
Here I am with Professor Bernadette Boyle who invited me to speak:
And here I am with some of the students:
