Posted by Kevin Dame
Here's a look at what the New York Yankees have done to the Minnesota Twins in their last four postseason series. Ugly, to say the least...unless you're a Yankee fan. NOTE: circle sizes have been adjusted to more accurately reflect the scoring...
Your chart says “Size of circle = number of runs scored” but you made the diameter, not the size, of the circle proportional to the number of runs scored. That makes the size of the circle proportional to the square of the number of runs scored.
This is most obvious in the rightmost “6-1” pair of circles, where the size of the blue circle is actually 36 times the size of the black circle.
Posted 10/10 at 08:01 PM
GBSimons said...
I think “size” is vague enough that it can be interpreted in more than one way. I agree “area” is probably a better interpretation than “diameter,” but I also think that’s nit-picking. The graph tells the story well.
Posted 10/10 at 09:34 PM
dfan said...
Well, my point is not so much that the legend is inaccurate but that the graph distorts the story. When you use a circle that’s 36 times the size of another one (that is, uses 36 times as many pixels) to illustrate a six-fold disparity in runs, it paints a misleading picture.
Posted 10/10 at 10:38 PM
Kevin Dame said...
Thanks for the comments. You’re right about the misleading nature of using diameter instead of area. My 7th grade math teacher would be disappointed. I adjusted the visual using the actual area of the circles to represent scoring.
Your chart says “Size of circle = number of runs scored” but you made the diameter, not the size, of the circle proportional to the number of runs scored. That makes the size of the circle proportional to the square of the number of runs scored.
This is most obvious in the rightmost “6-1” pair of circles, where the size of the blue circle is actually 36 times the size of the black circle.