Drawing Conclusions (aka Fun With Math)


© Steven M. Alper
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This week we'll manipulate the data from the Great-Big Summary Chart to achieve some pointless results.

The Big Losers

None of the shows in this chart went one for one, winning an award for every nomination. So to level the field we can subtract the number of wins from the total nominations in order to reflect only the awards lost. This reveals the big losers. Here they are in order of losses.

Ranking Show No. of losses
54. Ragtime 26 (Big Loser!)
53. Cabaret 22
52. The Lion King 19
50. (tie) The Scarlet Pimpernel; 1776 14
49. The Diary of Anne Frank 13
47. (tie) The Chairs; High Society 12
46. Golden Child 10
44. (tie) The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Side Show 9
40. (4-way tie) Ah, Wilderness; Art; Ivanov; The Sound of Music 8
38. (tie) The Capeman; Forever Tango 7
35. (3-way tie) Hedwig and...; Triumph of Love; A View from... 6
34. Proposals 5
32. (tie) As Bees...; Goose-Pimples 4
28. (4-way) American Clock; Never the Sinner; 3 Days of Rain; Visiting Mr. Green 3
15. (13-way) Ballad of Yachiyo; Cripple of Inishmaan; Freak; Gross Indecency; Honour; Jackie...; Last Session; Maiden's Prayer; Mizlansky...; On the Town; Pride's Crossing; Side Man; Wait Until Dark 2
 1. (14-way) All My Sons; Collected Stories; Dinah Was; A Dybbuk...; Long Day's Journey...; Mamba's Daughters; Misalliance; Mojo; Old Neighborhood; St. Nicholas; Scotland Rd.; Sunshine Boys; Therese Raquin 1 (Big Winners!)

Note that if we take this completely at face value, the smallest number of losses, wins! (Of course, try to see any of these "big winners.")


Berry Berry Good

Of course, that makes little sense, does it? Much more sensical, although equally pointless, is to look at the win-to-loss percentage ratio. If we divide the number of awards won by the total nominations for each winner, we come up with something like baseball batting averages. So here, then, is the list of winners. (Shows with no hits have been dropped from the chart.)

 Ranking Show Batting Avg.

1.

A View From the Bridge (MVP)

.667

2.

Pride's Crossing

.600

3.

The Lion King

.548

4.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

.438

5.

Cabaret

.421

6.

Never the Sinner

.400

7.

Art

.333

7.

Gross Indecency

.333

8.

Ragtime

.265

9.

Golden Child

.231

10.

Side Show

.182

10.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

.143

12.

Ah, Wilderness!

.111

13.

The Chairs

.077

14.

The Diary of Anne Frank

.071

15.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

.067

15.

1776

.067

Bear in mind that, despite their relatively respectable performance at the plate, many of these players have been sent to farm teams and/or dropped

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