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Subject: Re: How many games are needed to find out which program is stronger?

Author: Dave Gomboc

Date: 15:58:24 09/02/99

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On September 02, 1999 at 18:20:22, Heiko Mikala wrote:

>On September 02, 1999 at 15:52:17, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>
>
>>I don't think that you addressed my point, namely:
>>
>>  Less games are required to conclude with a certain confidence
>>  that one program is better than another when the results are
>>  lopsided than when they are not.
>
>Oh yes, I think I did exactly address your point.
>
>Look at these two match-fragments:
>
>    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
>A   ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1   11.0/15
>B   ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0    4.0/15
>
>
>    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
>A   1 1 ½ 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1   10.5/15
>B   0 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0    4.5/15
>
>They both look very similar, don't they? So, if I understand you correctly, you
>would conclude from both matches, that engine A will most definitely be stronger
>than engine B, because the results are *very* "lopsided".

You don't understand me correctly.

I am saying that a match where program A scores 60% versus program B must be
much longer than a match where program A scores 80% versus program B before one
can conclude with the same confidence level (e.g. 0.95) that A is a stronger
player than B.

I hope that was precise enough.

Dave



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