Moneyball "Game Changer"

1) 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). The Moneyball approach that they applied was that they wanted to get players who had not necessarily good playing styles, but how their OBP was. Moneyball was a science because it dealt with putting in numbers into the computer and coming up with an overall percentage for the player. The single statistic that they really stuck with was the fact that the player could get on base and not that he wasn’t good in the field.

2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion) The equation to calculate OBP is

OBP= H+BB+HBP
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AB+BB+HBP+SF
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion) Design is a creative/innovative way to come up with an idea and then put it into play.


4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design I like dick Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 – Hired Peter Brant for a solution for his team. Refining approach based on his first attempt.

2 – Fired Giambi and went against Moneyball technique. Tested and evaluated player.

3 – Traded players in order to make a better approach to winning games. Created more made new decision.


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

1 – Being able to make decisions without other peoples input. Direction
2 – Alignment
3 – Explaining decisions made toward the team and how to become a better player. Commitment

6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 – When Billy Beane went into the clubhouse and told the players how they should feel about losing.

2 – When Peter Brant came in early on the first day to get work done and be productive.

3 –When Peter Brant fired a player and had him traded to the Tigers.

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)The odds of winning 20 games in a row would take 477 years to make that possible.

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach? I think that in some parts they got lucky but also the moneyball technique was very helpful as well.

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. Billy Beane did apply the moneyball approach as a science but he also applied and art to it as well when he decided to trade players.

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 Moneyball and he also wrote Blindside: The evolution of the Game. I think that the theme to his writing would have to deal with sports and maybe the economic aspect of baseball.

Soccer Goal

This soccer goal will turn on the red lamp on top of the goal if a goal is scored. The photoresistors inside the goal will sense when the ball passes by the lights and turn on the lamp on top signifying a goal.

And here is the software that we used to get the goal to do what we wanted.



Activity 3.1.6 Open and Closed Loop Systems

1. We built the support system and track.
2. We added the motor and gearbox.
3. This is the program we made for the system.

4. N/A
5. This is an open loop because there is nothing to provide feedback to the system.
6. The gearbox would come to rest far to the right than it started.
7. The process does have an inefficiency because it travels more one way than the other everytime the process is repeated. Also, if something slows the motor down one way, the motor will not adjust to keep the constant speed.
8. Here is the flowchart.

9. This is a closed loop because it responds to feedback.

10. This would be very precise because it would never get passed the mini-switches so it will alway have the same range of motion.

11. Here is the flow chart for the third program.

 

CONCLUSION:

1. A cell phone is an open loop system. The program starts when it recieves an incoming call and it ends when the "END" button is pressed. The system could benefit from feedback because hitting the end button ends the process and the end button is a feedback.

2. An air conditioner is a closed loop system. The feedback it gets comes from a thermometer. If the temperature is higher than the set temperature, it will cool the house down until the set temperature is reached. If the temperature is lower than the set temperature, it will warm the house up until the set temperature is reached

3.1.5 Variable Functions

14. The light was on for 5 seconds.

15.

Conclusion:

16. You can have a Plus 1 command and then the next step could have a Minus 1 command. That will make the variable block equal zero.

17. An industrial or manufacturing engineering may need to keep track of how many products they place in a box. If the box can only hold 10 items, then the engineer will have to set the program so that it stops after it places 10 items in the box so that they can switch out the box.

3.1.4 Branch Functions

1. If the mini switch is not being pushed and it is wired normally open, the program will continue through the 0 node.
2.

3. The lamp will continuously be lit if I1 is wired normally open and the switch is never pushed.
4. Right click and manipulate properties
5. run program
6.

 7./8./9./10./11.
Input 1 (I1) is a potentiometer with an analog range from 42-5000

For these 5 questions, this flowchart was only manipulated slightly.
CONCLUSION:
1. It is important to include branches because the program can make decisions based on actions that you perform.
2. A normally open switch is a light switch. It is open when it is off and closed when it
3. A normally closed switch is a store alarm. It is constantly on until someone types in the password and turns it off.

Flowchart 4 conclusion

Conclusion

1.       Flowcharting is kind of similar to using a map to plan a route for a trip because flowcharting directs you in a path that explains certain steps and when you use a map to plan a route you have to take into account all the possible routes, detours, stops, and etc in order to make a trip possible.

2.       A process that I do every day is riding my bike to school every day and I choose between which paths to take.

Flowchart 4

3.1.3 Basic Programing

Conclusion:
1. The best way to make sure that all of your devices are in the correct ports of the interface and have been wired correctly is to hit the test button at the top of the ROBOPro screen.
2. The importance of labelingn block functions within a flowchart makes it easier for you to understand which motors are going and stopping.

Flowchart 3