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Figured you math dudes (and dudettes) could knock this one out of the park!

I've got a website that stores users' game scenario results. Each scenario record can have one of three possible results: Side 1 wins, Draw, or Side 2 wins.

To this end, I'm currently representing balance by showing the simple percentage of total victories for each result. Example:

Result Totals   Side 1 - 5   Draw - 1   Side 2 - 4  Display   Side 1    Draw    Side 2    50%       10%     40% 

but the astute reader will immediately note that using this methods means a scenario with 5 plays split 2-1-2 and a scenario with 100 plays split 40-20-40 will have the same apparent "balance".

What I would like to do is take into account the total plays for a scenario. Thereby, a scenario with a split of 41-20-39 will rank much higher than one splitting 2-1-2, even though the simple percentage is actually less balanced.

Does that make sense? Ideally, this would map to a scale of some sort, so scenarios could be given discrete balance ratings.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

  • 0
    Do you consider a 50-0-50 split more or less balanced than a 0-100-0 split?2011-02-24
  • 0
    I had not considered it before. But after a minute's thought, my layman's brain seems content with putting 50-0-50 and 0-100-0 in the same pot. Is that wrong?2011-02-24
  • 0
    It's your model, you get to define it however you like. It helps clarify the problem a little bit for me.2011-02-24

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