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Subject: Re: Some stats...

Author: Rolf Tueschen

Date: 17:15:14 01/22/04

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On January 22, 2004 at 12:53:16, Christophe Theron wrote:

>On January 21, 2004 at 20:00:12, Kolss wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>How many games you need depends on what you want to show, of course... :-)
>>If my calculations are correct, I get the following:
>>
>>Shredder 8 vs. Shredder 7.04:
>>
>>+90 -65 =145
>>
>>=> 162.5 - 137.5
>>
>>=> 54.17 %
>>
>>=>
>>Elo difference = +29
>>95 % confidence interval: [+1, +58]
>>
>>That means that based on this 300-game match (for this particular time control
>>on this particular computer with these particular settings etc.), your best
>>guess is that S8 is 29 Elo points better than S7.04 (highest likelihood for that
>>value); there is a 95 % chance that S8 is between 1 and 58 Elo points better;
>>and the likelihood that S8 is (at least 1 Elo point) better than S7.04 is 97.5
>>%.


This is wrong. Stats doesn't work this way. In your example above 1 Elo is as
probable as 58 Elo. There is no way to hypostate that Elo 29 is the "best"
guess. With a defined confidence int. of 95% you get a variance of 1 to 58 Elo
points. Then you look how your results are differing for two progs. All results
between 1 and 58 tell you nothing about differences! You still have to admit
that the two progs could be equally strong. You need at least Elo +-59 for a
claim of being better or worse. - NB you propose that the two progs are equally
strong and then you test against it. You must top 58. [all this on the base of a
specific N of games, the results calculated in Elo; I didn't follow the debate
but normally you calculate with scores from the games/matches just for
mentioning it]

Rolf


>>
>>So if you "only" want to show that S8 is better, you can - statistically
>>speaking - stop now. If you want to "prove" that it is more than 20 Elo points
>>better, you need a few more games indeed...
>>
>>Best regards - Munjong.
>
>
>
>It's great to see that at least one guy is able to correctly interpret match
>results here.
>
>I hope you will post more often on this subject. Information on it is very much
>needed here.
>
>
>
>    Christophe



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