Wayne writes...
 
> Chad said...
 
> >Is there any person in Maine that knows exeactly how the "heal point" standings
> >work that are used for high school sports.
 
I turn out to be one of those people in Maine that actually does know
how to compute "heal point" standings...I'll send it to Chad myself.
 
> The "Heal Point System", used in several Maine secondary school sports,
> is a good one, but given today's computing power ...  is a bit
> antiquated, as I recall.
 
Wayne is right here.  Basically, the "heal point" system takes into
account the successes of a team and the successes of the teams that
it defeats.  I refer to it as a "second order" rating.  [Note, this
is just language I've made up so I can understand it *myself*!]  This
is compared to something like TCHCR which is really an "infinite
order" rating - if I understand it at all.  [Which I may not!]
 
As Wayne says, as the season progresses, we'll probably really get
into this a bit more - perhaps even see some new ratings again this
year!  Personally, I find it fascinating, and I keep wanting to take
the time to look carefully at all the various rating schema and try
to compare them in some objective manner.  But then again, I'm a
mathematician, and what we find fascinating is often very *strange*!
 
Best wishes, Charlie
 
Charlie Slavin                               [log in to unmask]
Department of Mathematics
University of Maine                          "It's a great day for hockey"
Orono, Maine 04469-5752                             Bob Johnson 1931-1991