A hypothetical Question

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 1/27/2000 6:59 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: Sounds okay to me posted by Karthik Kanagasabapathy on 1/27/2000 6:42 PM MST:



The scenario gets worse with the-drop-your-lowest-score rule put in the mix.

If team X is slightly ahead in the rankings and has all fairly consistent scores, it has 'one to give' while Team Y may have already had their bad luck dose for the day where they scored a 0. As long as Team Y has done well in all their other matches the 0 score has not hurt them.

BUT... if Team X (in 4th place) is playing in the same match as Team Y (in 5th place) for the last match of the day, then Team X is in a very strange position. Regardless of the pairings, Team X can work to see that Team Y never has a chance to advance.

Team X can either work to pile on the score and win 45-0 if the teams are partners or lose 45-0 if the teams are on opposite alliances. Either way, Team X has nothing to loose by forgetting about the score of the match and focusing on lowering Team Y's Q-points.

Question:

Is it within the scope of gracious professionalism to maximize your chances of winning the tournament (by having the highest seeding position possible) using such strategies?

Your opinions welcome.

Joe J.