My Problem Is This..........

[Saxman]

Firstly my problem is mathematical....

If a horse in a race finishes 7/17 (seventh of seventeen runners) and
another horse finishes 4/10, which has the greater merit? What is the
best way to represent such a problem?

If I import such fractions into Excel from a web page as text, how can I
best convert such data for mathematical manipulation, or back to a fraction?

This could be a problem where a horse finishes 17/17 as it would require
the first two digits (rather than one) to be selected.

 

[Bryan Hessey]

Sounds like homework, but,

7th of 17 is less of less merit than 4th of 10, but you don't need much
maths to prove that, simply convert 4/10 to 17ths
to make 10 into 17 you multiply by 1.7,
and 4 * 1.7 = 6.8
so 4th of 10 is = to 6.8th of 17, just ahead of 7th.

to use decimal, 4/10 = .4 whereas 7/17 = .4117647 and last will be = 1
in an area where the lowest number is the better result.

 

[Guest]

with the (text) fraction in cell a6

=IF(ISODD(LEN(A6)),LEFT(A6,(LEN(A6)-FIND("/",A6,1)))/RIGHT(A6,(LEN(A6)-FIND("/",A6,1))),LEFT(A6,(LEN(A6)-FIND("/",A6,1)-1))/RIGHT(A6,(LEN(A6)-FIND("/",A6,1))))

converts it to a decimal

 

[Bob Phillips]

Bryan,

Not disagreeing with what you say, but it may be too simplistic. In some
situations, a place will carry a weighting. So a 1st, 2nd and a 3rd may
weight more highly than 3 2nds. As so often happens, the true answer is ...
it depends ...

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"Bryan Hessey" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

 

[CLR]

And, in judging past performances, don't forget CLASS............it's one
thing for a horse to be FIRST against a bunch of crippled plodders, and it's
quite something else to be only THIRD against the best contenders in their
prime............

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3



"Bryan Hessey" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

 

[Saxman]

And, in judging past performances, don't forget CLASS............it's one
thing for a horse to be FIRST against a bunch of crippled plodders, and it's
quite something else to be only THIRD against the best contenders in their
prime............

I totally agree, but you gotta start somewhere! Class could be
determined by prize money won, position attained in highest class ran in
etc.

 

[Bob Phillips]

I think what Chuck is saying and what I am saying is that there are many
answers to this question, If it a homework question, then you should think
about the circumstances in which it would be applied, and analyse and
present on the many options. I don't feel we are doing it for you, just
advising you to think of the possibilities, and research each.

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

 

[CLR]

You got the idea..............and don't forget DISTANCE............top-notch
SPRINTERS usually don't make good long-distance runners..........and
vice-versa..................it is indeed a multi-faceted problem, worthy of
many considerations.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3