With Selection Sunday at the end of this week, millions of Americans will be filling out NCAA Men's Basketball brackets in the hopes of winning the Quicken Loans $1 billion bracket challenge.
Ezra MillerProfessor, Mathematics Department, Duke Universityezra@math.duke.eduhttps://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/math/ezra
Miller is a mathematician with a wide-ranging interest in geometry, algebra, mathematical biology and topology, among other topics. He is the associate director of the Statistical and Mathematical Applies Sciences Institute (SAMSI) and teaches a popular course each year called "Math Everywhere," which touches on sports-related statistical theory.
Quote:"Warren Buffett agreed to insure Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert's $1 billion prize for a perfect NCAA Men's Basketball bracket for an undisclosed sum. The odds of randomly guessing all 63 games' outcomes correctly, with no additional information, are roughly 1 in 10 pentillion, which equals 1 in 10 billion billion. The odds of intelligently guessing all 63 outcomes correctly are in the vicinity of 1 in 1 billion, even for an expert basketball odds maker."
"With those odds, and 15 million entrants allowed, the price paid by Quicken Loans for Buffett's insurance policy should exceed $15 million."