Bugaboo Math Games

Last week we talked about using math skills to track baseball statistics. We looked at Batting average, Earned run average, and On-base percentage.  This week, we will give you a few more ways to have your child become an expert statistician/mathematician!

W-L %:  When a pitcher’s ERA is discussed, a mention of his record usually follows. Divide the number of games pitched by the total number of decisions. If the pitcher has pitched 19 games and won 16 of them, take 16 / 19 = .842 for his W-L%.

Fielding AVG:  Defense is an important statistic and deals with putouts (PO) which is making an out by catching a fly, tagging out, etc. and assists (A) which is fielding or touching the ball to help make the PO. Who will win the Golden Glove this year? Try to find out who has the best fielding average by taking the total putouts plus assists divided by putouts plus assists plus errors. Say there are 218 PO, 290 A and 2 ERR, the formula would be (218 + 290)/(218+290+2)=508/510=.996

Slugging % (SLG): Is your favorite player a power hitter? Find the SLG by taking the total number of bases of all base hits and divide it by the at bat opportunities. Note: the total number of bases means exactly that: a single is one base, a double is two bases, etc. Walks are not included here! If there were 440 at bats, and 282 total bases, the SLG would be 282 / 440 = .641.

Challenge:  What is the average SLG for your favorite team?  Pick a defense position and compare the Fielding AVG for the teams that are on top in the AL or NL. Compare the stats of those teams to find their strengths and weaknesses.

Have fun with math!

Do you know a child who loves baseball? Combine math with their love of baseball for some great summer math practice!   There is a lot of math associated with baseball statistics, so have your child figure out the stats on their favorite players!  Here are some ideas:

Earned Run Average (ERA):  This common pitching stat is found by the number of earned runs x 9 divided by the total innings pitched. For example, the pitcher allowed 67 runs in 220 innings, 67 x 9 = 603.  603/220 = 2.74 ERA

Batting Average:  Number of base hits divided by total at bats

On Base Percentage (OBP):  Total hits + bases reached on balls (walks) + bases reached by hit by pitch divided by total at bats +  bases reached on balls + bases reached by hit by pitch + sacrifice flies. Wow, here’s an example:

420 at bats, 108 hits, 42 walks, 8 hit by pitch, 7 sac. flies OBP: (108+42+8)/(420+42+8+7)=158/477=.331

Challenge:  Which should we use to measure the effectiveness of an offensive player – the batting average or the OBP?  Have your child think about what this question is asking…and remember that being a strong offensive player means getting on base, even with a walk, so OBP would be the answer!

Have fun with math!

Practice addition and subtraction with a visual map! Draw out a simple map with various points of interest ( i.e. barn, ice cream stand, playground, pond) and draw intersecting roads that connect some of the points of interest, with a number showing the distance between each point.  Have your child give points of interest they want on the map to customize it for them!

Write up simple questions for your child, such as:

If you go from the barn, to the pond, then to the ice cream stand, how far have you gone?

Have them find the shortest route between two points of interest.

Ask them if they would pass a particular place if they were going from one point of interest to another.

Have fun with math!

Let’s take that big bag of jelly beans and practice some graphing! Have your child organize the jelly beans into colors and then make a bar graph showing colors on the horizontal axis and numbers along the vertical axis. They can also show their data in a pie chart or line plot. Next, ask them questions, such as:

Find the three colors that have at least 5 jelly beans,

Find the color that represents the most jelly beans. Find the color that represents the least. How many more jelly beans are there in the color with the most?

Then be sure to have your child come up with a few questions for you to answer!

Have fun with math!