1. 01-11-12 01:47 PM #1
    Regul8er
    Wordd
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    Business Statistics Class

    Hey Guys,

    This semester for my MBA program I'm taking a Business Statistics course.

    Before going in, would there be anything that I should pay extra attention to that could potentially help me in the sports gambling realm?

    Thanks in Advance!
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  2. 01-11-12 01:57 PM #2
    AlwaysDrawing
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    The part where you do Markov chains for baseball games is useful.

    More seriously, regressions.
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  3. 01-11-12 02:20 PM #3
    samserif
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    I'd say pay attention to sample sizes, error estimates, and confidence levels. I don't think most people have a good feel for how sample size affects your confidence in estimates; it sure as hell isn't intuitive to me!
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  4. 01-11-12 03:33 PM #4
    mathdotcom
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    All of it
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  5. 01-11-12 05:42 PM #5
    flsaders85
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    Quote Originally Posted by mathdotcom View Post
    All of it
    This
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  6. 01-11-12 07:55 PM #6
    mathdotcom
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    It's as much a way of thinking as it is anything else
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  7. 01-11-12 10:48 PM #7
    samserif
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    Quote Originally Posted by mathdotcom View Post
    It's as much a way of thinking as it is anything else
    Agreed, but the trick is finding a prof who teaches it that way vs. one who has you memorize a bunch of tools and techniques that give false confidence and zero insight.

    My favorite stat book is Statistics As Principled Argument precisely because it's about how to think about data. It's the sort of book that explains what a regression really tells you (and doesn't tell you) as opposed to saying "Now here's something you can use for forecasting..."

    If the class is taught by a senior prof there's a chance it'll cover meaning and interpretation; I've got a bad feeling, however, that anything labeled "business statistics" is going to be heavy on memorizing calculations.
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  8. 01-11-12 11:45 PM #8
    gregm
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    Sports gambling and making money? If you are just wagering then I would think you could learn more from some books and some coding courses then you will in most of these theory classes. Learn to model and just some basic coding, loads of great books to read out there. I dont know how a business statistics course and theory is going to help you really but I may be wrong.

    I would think reading some good books to start out and reading wizard of odds and loads of great threads on here from the past to learn from.
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  9. 01-12-12 10:28 AM #9
    samserif
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    Don't know why I didn't think of this before...

    Grab the books by Stanford Wong, King Yao, and Justin7. Grab them right now. Read them or even just skim them. Watch for the same concepts to come up in class or just ask the instructor to explain anything that's not clear.
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  10. 01-12-12 10:55 AM #10
    TomG
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    business stats is kiddie pool hopefully you enjoy the material and want to actually learn something about probability and statistics afterward
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  11. 01-12-12 01:16 PM #11
    Regul8er
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    Thanks Guys......and yes Tom, I understand its kiddie pool, but I am hoping it sparks my interest for future learning outside the classroom.

    Flipping through the textbook briefly I saw diagrams discussing probability of wins for MLB teams over a season based on certain criteria.
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