-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        RE: Re: [MAPS-L] State shape ranking
Date:   Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:01:09 -0000
From:   Carlucci, April <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
References:     A<[log in to unmask]>


I didn't enjoy it either. People who make nasty cracks about New Jersey
based on nothing more than their own unsubstantiated opinion (let alone
the states that came lower on the list than the Garden State) are just
plain boring.

April Carlucci

-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maps-L
Sent: 19 January 2007 14:19
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MAPS-L] State shape ranking

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: State shape ranking
Date:   Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:28:33 GMT
From:   [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]


Sorry, I didn't enjoy it.

The Sagarin ratings are for ranking college basketball or college
football teams (the same formula would work with other sports as well)
when there are too many teams and too few games to actually decide
which one is best.

Now one disadvantage of Sagarin is that it is a secret algorithm (so
far as I know, the only public algorithm among the BCS Computer
rankings is Colley Matrix), although many believe it is an Elo-type
algorithm, with the exact parameters held secret.

But my goodness, here we have a full census (anyone can compare the
shape of one state versus that of another, any number of times that
they wish to).  You would think that the author would introduce some
mathematical formula in evaluating the shape of state -- maybe
including the golden ratio...at the very least, declare the existence
of such a formula without saying what it is...

I bring up the golden ratio because the man who gave me my
professional start had me make graphs -- he once wanted the area of
the graph to be a rectangle, with the height of the graph equal to the
golden ratio, or (1+sqrt(5))/2 = 1.618033989 times its width.

Certain philosophers throughout the centuries have believed such a
rectangle to be the one that is most pleasing to the eye.

Joe McCollum
FIA
Knoxville, TN

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